Nigeria: Microsoft Office is about to close down its Africa Development Centre in the most populous country ‘Nigeria’, said the official spokesperson on Wednesday.
The operational centre of Microsoft in West Nigeria, based in the commercial Lagos was opened two years ago in 2022 as a part of Microsoft’s push to deliver high-end engineering and innovation solutions for the company.
The software company said that it would however maintain to continue the operation in Nigeria and will continue to prioritise the investment in the strategic growth areas.
Microsoft’s official spokesperson said that the company has decided to close the Africa Development Centre in Nigeria, as a result some of the employees based in Nigeria will be impacted.
“Organisational and workforce adjustments are a necessary and regular part of managing the business,” said the spokesperson.
As of now, it is not clear yet that how many people would be impacted by the decision of the software company.
Earlier, in December 2022, Microsoft President Brad Smith said that the Africa has represented a burgeoning talent pool in contrast to declining population growth elsewhere. Microsoft at that time had more than 200 engineers in Lagos and more than 500 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Considering the same, the Nigerian presidency has reacted to the decision of Microsoft and noted a standard practice by the software company.
Notably, the senior special assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity – Temitope Ajayi mentioned the workers who will be relieved of their duties.
Senior Assistant Ajayi then tackled Peter Obi, as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, accusing him of sensationalism. The presidential aide then claimed that Microsoft is only re-aligning the roles and few roles will be impacted.
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Temitope Ajayi wrote on his ‘X’ account on Thursday, May 09, 2024, “The story that Microsoft is shutting down Nigeria office is not true. Africa Development Centre is just a department with the Microsoft business in Nigeria.”
“Microsoft like any other organisation, is only re-aligning roles within the business and few roles will certainly be impacted. Affected staff, less than 30, will be asked to apply for new roles within the Microsoft – a standard practice within the organisation,” wrote Ajayi.
