Nigeria: Zinox Develops Cost Effective Power Solutions for Varsities

ALLAFRICA.COM
THISDAY [18/02/13]


Zinox Innovation Centre has developed a cost effective power solution that will support universities and other tertiary institutions' critical ICT Infrastructure and enable students to charge up to 2,500 laptops free, every hour on campus.

Chairman of Zinox Group, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, who dropped the hint during the visit of some post graduate students from different Nigerian Universities, to the company's corporate Headquarters in Lagos recently, said Zinox developed the new product in response to the slow pace of improvement in the power sector. He also said it would address the needs of students to have access to global resources that were cheap and easy to source online.

Ekeh pointed out the fact that lack of power in the educational institutions would lead to a new culture of procrastination among the youth. "Exuberance, razor sharpness and spontaneity characteristics of youth would be undermined while waiting for power endlessly, whether it is from the national grid or the school's generator," Ekeh said.

According to him, students had to wait for light to solve their assignments, charge their phones and laptops, respond to the school's authorities and these can turn to disasters in a knowledge era where even reflexes are tied to the ICT equipment.

The Zinox Chairman noted that some parents could afford to buy laptops and subscribe internet for their children who are in Nigerian institutions, but most times due to power challenges these equipment were not used as no tertiary institution can run generators for 24 hours, seven days a week due to the high cost of diesel.

He queried if these students were to fold their hands and wait for such a day we shall have 24 hour power on campus before taking their studies more seriously.

"This is what led to the invention. There may not be light on campus, but at least students can stay online real time as there are facilities to charge their laptops when their batteries are low and most importantly their Internet infrastructure is also powered and live every minute of the day," Ekeh said.

According to him, the Zinox Innovative Power Solution would return immediacy to the conduct of the youths and ultimately catalyse the development of a knowledgeable and proactive workforce. He called on corporate persons to help governments at all levels to solve the problems of education by commissioning research into their challenges. Admitting that the educational sector is not sufficiently funded, Ekeh urged parents and other stakeholders to persevere and take advantage of the students' formative years to impact enduring values.

He called on the post graduate students to make better use of opportunities made available to them to define who they want to be in future.

He observed that post graduate students occupy a very strategic stratum in the educational sector and if properly focused would shape the knowledge society.

The Zinox Innovative Center is the umbrella body of the Zinox Research and Development and has been responsible for many product and marketing innovations including the Naira sign on the Zinox international keyboard, the Zinox Card, the largest single e-books platform in Africa, and the innovative marketing that has brought the IT experience to the underserved, among others.

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