Nigeria was well represented by 15 students, from University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and University of Port Harcourt, at the Huawei Technologies Sub-Saharan Africa finals of the Huawei Global ICT Competition which is believed to be the biggest event of its kind in Africa covering 13 countries, including Nigeria, and attracting over 50,000 students across African educational institutions. Due to the pandemic, the competition was held virtually.
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The Nigerian students were selected after a participating and emerging top in the national finals of the Huawei ICT Competition which held on December 10th, 2019. The national competition had over 23,000 Nigerian students in the contest. The Huawei ICT competition which is established to foster ICT learning in Africa and bridge the gap between theoretical study and practical experience typically comprises a national preliminary contest, a regional semi-final, and a Global final. The competition was first launched in Africa in 2015.
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The Huawei ICT competition generally covers the latest ICT technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, mobile networks, and big data. Team Nigeria had 15 students and 5 teams who competed under the Network, Cloud, and Big Data segment. The Nigerian students participated in the competition from the Huawei Technologies Nigeria offices in Abuja and Lagos respectively.
According to Kenneth Igwe and Weilei, Huawei Channel Training Manager (ICT Talent Ecosystem Development) in Nigeria “prior to the ICT competition, Huawei Technologies Nigeria took time out to train 9 of the 15 students who were also given internship opportunities with the company in Abuja and Lagos. Meanwhile, all the students had also been trained since January for this competition and many of them already acquired HCIA, HCIP, and HCIP which are globally recognized certifications in various Huawei technology Courses.”
Atabol Hamza Adenoi, one of the Nigerian students confirmed this in an interview with the media. “I began the r*** for the Huawei ICT competition in August 2019 while observing my internship at A.B.U. Zaria. I was trained ahead of the competition’s exam and shortly after, I was granted the opportunity to do an internship at the Huawei Nigeria headquarters in Abuja.”
The Huawei ICT competition runs under the Huawei ICT Academy which currently collaborates with more than 90 universities in Nigeria and was established to train students for free in the latest internationally relevant ICT skills in subjects such as Networks, Cloud Computing and Big Data. As at today, over 10,000 Nigerian students have benefitted.
