Following the feat by Nigerian students that clinched the third place at the finals of the Global Information and Communication Technology competition organised by Huawei Technologies in Dongguan, China this month, the firm expressed commitment to build capacity of Nigerian youths to have well cultivated ICT talents for the future to drive innovation and technology in Nigeria.

The team of Nigerian students from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) competed with 49 other teams from 30 countries arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja yesterday, May 28, 2019.

Speaking at their arrival, Managing Director of Huawei Technologies (Abuja Office), Tank Li, noted that Huawei ICT Competition is a global ICT talent exchange event, which comprises Huawei Authorised Information, Network Academy universities and Huawei ICT Academy. He said the company understands the value of a good talent ecosystem, being the foundation for a smart future and has therefore made a lot of effort to cultivate ICT talents by sharing accumulated knowledge systems and best practices in the last 30 years. Adding voice to Li was the company’s Media and Communication Manager, Emmanuel Adereti, who said that to qualify for the final competition, the Nigerian students emerged first during the national competition and in Sub-Saharan African competition held in South Africa and subsequently took the third position globally.

Chief of Staff to Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, in his response noted that the students did the country and Africa proud as their achievement has reinforced the belief that with an enabling environment, the Nigerian youth could be outstanding. Professor Ibrahim Garba, Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) added that the competition was an eye opener as he laments that we are not doing anything as a people and government to invest in our future.

A member of the team, Adebayo Abdulqudus said he and his teammates achieved the feat through dedication and hard work.

He said: “For the past eight months, we left our families, relatives, friends, social lives to participate in the Huawei ICT competition to win. Though we got the third prize, our participation, the experience and opportunity to learn are the most important of all.”

In March, the Nigerian team emerged first place alongside Tanzania, Kenya and Angola in Huawei Technologies’ flagship ICT development programme and third place in the last competition, which held in China this month.

The team of Nigerian students ranked number one in Africa, leading with 790.4 points, followed by Tanzania (745.6), Kenya (737) and Angola (700.8).