Reports indicate that Microsoft is contemplating the closure of its African Development Centre in Lagos, which would be a significant setback for Nigeria’s thriving tech industry.
If this closure is indeed confirmed, it would have far-reaching consequences for the country’s technological landscape, potentially impacting job opportunities and stifling innovation in the sector.
The Guardian newspaper spoke to industry insiders who revealed that Microsoft informed its staff about the closure plans on Monday.
According to the newspaper, affected employees will receive salary payments until June and will continue to be covered by health insurance.
However, a source within Microsoft’s Lagos office neither confirmed nor denied the closure when approached by the newspaper. While the exact reasons behind this decision remain unclear, it is believed that Nigeria’s challenging economic conditions may have played a part.
The closure appears to affect only the ADC’s West Africa operations in Nigeria, not its East Africa facility in Nairobi, Kenya.
In 2019, Microsoft introduced the African Development Centers initiative with an investment of $100 million, setting up centers in Lagos and Nairobi. By 2022, the center in Nigeria had hired over 120 engineers, expanding its workforce to over 200 employees.
At the time, Gafar Lawal, Managing Director of Microsoft ADC West Africa, said as quoted by The Guardian, “We intended to recruit 500 full-time engineers by the end of the year or by 2023. However, currently, we have exceeded 500. This is to tell you about the abundance of talents we have in Africa.”
The Lagos Centre was inaugurated to develop innovative technology solutions to address challenges across Africa and globally.
A Microsoft statement stated, “This also creates opportunities for engineers to do meaningful work from their home countries and be plugged into a global engineering and development organisation.”
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