Huawei refurbishes Children’s Library
Huawei Technologies, Ghana has completed and handed over a newly refurbished Children’s Library and the Exhibition Hall of the Accra Main Library to the Ghana Library Authority.
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The refurbishing of the Children’s Library, cost over GH¢500,000 and is the second phase of a renovation works undertaken on the Accra Library.
It involved colourful painting works, provision of metal grills, shelves and new furniture. The work also included a complete replacement of the main entrance doors with more secure burglar-proof gates as well as the polishing of the floors among other works. The Exhibition Hall was also painted.
MoU
The renovation work, which was undertaken jointly with Vodafone, formed part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last year between a Huawei Technologies and the Ghana Library Authority to give a facelift to the library.
The first phase of the renovation work, which was completed and handed over in December 2014, involved the renovation of the reference, lending and computer rooms of the library.
Relationship
Handing over the project on behalf of the company, the Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Ato Sarpong, recalled the longstanding relationship between Ghana and Huawei Technologies, citing the national communication backbone, the e-government project and the e-government platform as some of the projects that the company had executed in the country, as well as the western corridor enclave, which was still being executed.
He described Huawei Technologies as “a relevant contributor” to national information development, saying the company also helped the government in executing the enhanced communication information centres throughout the country and was hopeful that the collaboration would even increase in subsequent years.
Digital divide
On the digital divide, Mr Sarpong said unlike a decade ago when the technological gap was very wide, the same could not be said in 2015, adding for instance that currently mobile penetration is 110 per cent while internet subscription has risen to 15 million.
He, however, said there was still a huge gap in the area of knowledge base, explaining that in the urban areas, the knowledge in technology was advanced to the extent that some children had laptops to themselves while in the rural area, the reverse was the reality.
“We owe it as a responsibility to ensure that we close the gap,” he said, “by providing and equipping facilities such as the library for knowledge acquisition.”
Quiz
He challenged Huawei Technologies and Vodafone as well as other corporate bodies to collaborate with the Ghana Library Authority to organise quizzes among public schoolchildren as way of encouraging them to “catch up with their counterparts in the private schools.”
The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Ghana, Mrs Sun Baohong, in a statement said the library project by Huawei was just one of the many projects the Chinese Government and its people were executing to improve the lives of Ghanaians.
Vodafone
The Head of External Affairs of Vodafone, Mr Gayheart Mensah, said his company was pleased to collaborate with Huawei Technologies, adding that Vodafone has supported Huawei with 20 computers to furnish the Children’s Library of the Accra Main Library.
Corporate responsibility
The Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Ghana, Mr Russell Xu, gave an assurance that his company would continue to support the Ghana Library Authority to promote patronage of its facilities.
“Huawei is a responsible corporate citizen that is committed to contributing significantly to the development of the communities and people in the regions where we operate.
“At Huawei, we believe that by connecting people and enabling information access across economic, social and geographic boundaries, we ensure that more and more people enjoy the conveniences brought by communications,” he said.
Mr Xu also said bridging the digital divide was a key challenge for the company and “we do support and promote initiatives that help deliver access to communications.”