Emma Okonji
Google has launched its third Google for Nigeria programme in Lagos, where it announced new partnership with the federal government to make online safety curriculum available to all primary and secondary school students in the country, reaching an estimated 56 million Nigerian students every year.
Google also announced new products and features that would empower more people in Nigeria and across Africa.
The product announcements included navigation instructions, which comes in a Nigerian voice for both motorcycle and car driving modes, new Street View imagery, Gallery Go, Google Go updates, Google Lens and Bolo, and a Nigerian culinary experience from Google Arts and Culture.
With the launch of the navigation instructions on Nigerian roads for cars and motorcycles, which comes in Nigerian voice, Google said in the next few months, it would introduce a new directions experience for Lagos that is optimised for informal transit, bringing Danfo routes into Google Maps.
To help make it easier to visually explore places in Nigeria, Google is publishing more panoramic imagery on Street View. Starting with imagery of Lagos two years ago, Google has added Street View imagery of Abuja, Benin City, Enugu and Ibadan, with almost 12 thousand kilometers of roads added.
“With the growth of Android, more and more Nigerians have phones that take pictures. But not everyone has access to reliable, high-speed internet or cloud backup to quickly find a photo.
“That is why Google has launched Gallery Go, a fast and smart photo gallery designed for users who don’t have a reliable internet connection.
“Gallery Go brings many of the best features of Google Photos on device, to help them find, edit and manage their photos even when they are offline.
“The app is only 10MB to keep the phone light and fast, so that you can spend more time capturing memories, ” Google said.
Country Director, Google Nigeria, Juliet Ehimaun Chiazor, said the products were locally developed to address local challenges in Nigeria and other African countries.
“Every day, people in Nigeria, Africa and around the world turn to Google for help. We hope that the products and updates we announced will make Google even more helpful for fuelling people’s hustles and getting things done.
“We remain committed to bringing the transformational power of technology to everyone in Nigeria and Africa as a whole,” Chiazor said.
Like other products, the Gallery Go is available on Google Play for devices running Android 8.1 (Oreo) or higher and will come pre-installed as the gallery app on the Itel S15 and select A55 devices, which would be available in Nigeria in the coming days.
Google launched Google Go last year, making it easier for people to discover the best of the internet even on low-RAM smartphones or unstable network connections.
