Google launches free high Wi-Fi for Millions of Nigerians, aim to solve Africa's biggest challenges faster

Google Inc hosted the Google for Nigeria event on July 26th – 27th and unveiled new products and services. 

This year event witnessed enormous announcement targeted at helping more people in Nigeria, and across Africa benefit from the opportunities the web has to offer.

“We are offering new solutions to improve and expand access in Nigeria and across Africa; these launches demonstrate our commitment to Africa through products built to help people in Africa to make the most of the Internet,” said Google Nigeria Country Director, Ehimuan-Chiazor.

Here are the big announcements.

Google Station

This is aimed at providing high free Wi-Fi to help more people in Nigeria and across Africa benefit from the opportunities the web has to offer.

“Google Station will be rolling out in 200 locations in five cities across Nigeria by the end of 2019, bringing Wi-Fi to millions of people,” says Google Nigeria Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor.

The hotspot station will be located in various sites such as the markets, transport hubs, shopping malls, universities, and more. 


However, Nigeria is the fifth country to get Google Station, after India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico.

Job Search 

Google search comes with a new search experience for Africans. It allows users to explore jobs, health conditions based on symptoms. 

The company recently launched Job Search in March in SouthAfrica, Nigeria, and Kenya and is currently out in 29 new countries.

Meanwhile, Google wants users to experience more prowess in searching for health conditions based on symptoms, as well as recipe search for people who need a little food, art and culture inspiration.

Google Street View

Google Street View helps you with a visual description of your intended destination. Google is expanding street views into 7 more cities in Nigeria including the rest of Lagos State. 

National Museum in Lagos, Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Millennium Park in Abuja, and Lekki Conservation Centre are currently included in the Street View.

Go Initiative

Google’s other products also weren’t left out. The latest features for its “Go” initiative products were rolled out. Users with low bandwidth connections and low RAM devices can easily get the best Google experience via the Go product suite.

These new features include:

• Google Go: 

It allows you to listen to any web page. You can now read the web as easily as listening to the radio.

• YouTube Go: users will be able to browse downloaded YouTube Go videos, saved as .yt files, right from the gallery on their phones.

• Google Maps Go: will now provide users with turn-by-turn directions, whether they’re traveling by car, by bus or on foot.

• Android Go: Launched in Nigeria and 29 other African countries earlier this year, the Go OS gives people coming online for the first time a powerful and reliable smartphone experience. Across Africa, Transsion, Nokia, Huawei, and Mobicel have launched various devices, starting at just over 17,000 Naira.