The Federal Government has congratulated Team Nigeria, comprising students from the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and University of Port Harcourt, who won the first place position in the Cloud and Network examination at the 2020 Huawei ICT competition.
The Nigerians students were honoured on Saturday at the Huawei office in Abuja during an online awards ceremony hosted from Huawei headquarters in China.
They were said to have defeated the over 150,000 other students who participated in the competition.
The President, Muhammadu Buhari, represented by his Special Assistant (Youth and Students Affairs), Nasir Sa’idu Adhama, commended the students from UI, ABU and UNIPORT, for their achievement in the global ICT competition.
He said, “I congratulate the Nigerian students for coming this far in this global ICT competition. I also thank Huawei for supporting our Nigerian students and hope Huawei will continue to partner the country in developing our ICT capabilities.”
The Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Chris Maiyaki, rejoiced with Huawei and the triumphant Nigerian students, saying the award was highly regarded as an annual festival of knowledge.
“The NUC is honoured to be associated to this success story. This proves that with the right environment and ecosystem, Nigeria can take on global counterparts on any intellectual platform,” he said.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, represented by the Managing Director/CEO, NIGCOMSAT, Dr. Abimbola Alale, expressed gratitude to Huawei for the opportunity given to the Nigerian students to showcase their expertise at the global level and congratulated the students for making Nigeria proud.
“I commend Huawei for organizing this ICT competition as part of your Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. We look forward to more collaboration between Huawei and the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.”
The Deputy Managing Director/CEO of Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, Kelvin Yang, said in over two decades of operating in Nigeria, Huawei had remained committed to training Nigerians in digital skills and cultivating ICT talents to build a fully digital economy.
He said, “We launched the ICT Talents Eco-system Development programme so that local ICT talents can be nurtured and developed to the point of global recognition. We are so glad that this is beginning to become a reality as we have gathered here today to celebrate and witness the excellent performance of our Nigerian students.”
Promoters of the competition said it was established to foster ICT learning in Africa and bridge the gap between theoretical study and practical industry experience.
The competition comprises of a national preliminary contest, regional semi-final and a global final.
The students who were excited to emerge first place after over 10 months of consistent hard work felt proud of their achievement for themselves, their families and the nation.
One of the victorious students, Hamza Atabor who spoke on behalf of others, expressed gratitude to Huawei, managements of the three universities and their instructors.
He said, “This journey with Huawei came with benefits such as professional certification in the field of interest. I am now HCIP certified in the field of Routing and Switching and in a few months, I will attain an extra level certification.
“Huawei gives students the opportunity to learn skills which are recognised in the world of ICT. Huawei provides a platform where students can see and practice new innovative and cutting-edge technology to grow and develop themselves.
“To me, Huawei stands for H – hope for development, U – unique, A – available to everyone, W – worldwide scope, E – Excellent in operations and I – intelligent in technology.”
