About Senator Abiru Innovation Lab
In recent years, Nigeria has faced unprecedented economic challenges ostensibly caused by recession, shrinking oil revenues and the Coronavirus. The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS reported that the youth unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 53.40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 40.80 percent in the second quarter of 2020.
At this critical period in the nation’s history, Nigeria urgently needs crop of leaders who are in tune with global trends and ready to harness enormous opportunities that the current digital revolution age presents for the overall advancement of the people. Having failed to maximize the opportunities of the agricultural and industrial ages, It will therefore be disastrous for the nation to loss out again in the digital revolution era.
Senator Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru is one of the few leaders who are aligning with the realities of now and the future by onboarding his constituents on the tech and digital revolution. He knows that jobs and opportunities of the future reside in tech.
As a discerning leader, he saw how technology is shaping social interactions, mode of worship, commerce, education and even politics. This necessitated the establishment of the Senator Abiru Innovation Lab (SAIL), the first of its kind in Lagos East Senatorial District.
SAIL, an initiative of the Tokunbo Abiru Constituency Team (TACT) Foundation is a dedicated Innovation and tech lab that is providing relevant technology, business and digital skills to tech enthusiasts and young entrepreneurs across the Lagos East Senatorial District.
In driving SAIL, Abiru partnered with Co-creation Hub (Cc-Hub), a dedicated Innovation and tech company that makes use of social capital & technology to accelerate economic prosperity. In order to develop training programmes that will be most impactful, in 2021, Cc-Hub, with the Senator’s team conducted a survey using human centered design approach across selected locations in the Lagos East Senatorial District. The preponderance of responses from constituents surveyed informed the design of the 5 pilot programmes.
The pioneer participants of the above 5 pilot programmes who are presently in session will be trained between 3 - 6 months. They are 150 in number. Over 4000 young people across the district applied but only 150 can be accommodated in the temporary facility. Meanwhile, another cohort will be repeated for new participants throughout the year with the plan of impacting 500 participants in 2022. The permanent site will be completed before end of July 2022. The built-for-purpose, masterpiece permanent site that is under construction is equipped with computer lab that will seat 57 participants, 2 training rooms that will comfortably seat 28 learners each and STEM class for 30 teenagers. There is also a co-working arena that can comfortably accommodate 30 seats.
