Nigerian president lauds 100-dollar laptop initiative for children

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday described the proposed 100 US dollars "One Laptop per Child" (OLPC) initiative designed for developing the countries' children as "a great idea."

The non-profit OLPC initiative was first announced by Nicholas Negroponte, who heads the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January this year.

The aim of Negroponte's initiative is to provide each child in the developing world with a laptop that can also act as an e-book, a tablet PC and a TV in a bid to help bridge the digital divide.

"This is not just one laptop for a child, it is for education, communication and for children to develop initiative and learn," Obasanjo, also chairman of the 53-member African Union, told Negroponte in Nigeria's capital Abuja.

According to a presidential statement, Obasanjo stated his government has already budgeted for a million pieces of the model computer, and urged Negroponte to include Nigeria in the pilot phase of the project.

Negroponte had earlier said the entire initiative targets children whom he said are the "most precious resource of any nation," the statement added.

The OLPC initiative, which is expected to be launched simultaneously around the world next year, has Nigeria, Egypt, Brazil and Thailand among the pilot countries. Big names such as web search leader Google and media mogul Rupert Murdoch are sponsoring the project.

Source: Xinhua