Two Nigerian teams clinched the grand prizes in the Network and Cloud tracks of the regional finals of this year’s Huawei ICT competition.

This year marks the 3rd ICT Competition in Nigeria. Remarkably, the Nigerian teams took the mantles from the Tanzanian and Kenyan Teams.

While the University of Port Harcourt team comprising of Udochi Danielle, Ushuta Anthony and Adebayo S. Oluwafemi won in the Networking category, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria’s team comprising of Micah B. Shallom, Yunus Abdullahi and Aliyu Isah won the Cloud category. For the Innovation track, Amadu Bello University took the third place.

The Network and Cloud track competition examines the ICT knowledge, hands-on skills and team work exhibited by students. The Innovation Competition evaluates the innovative capabilities of the students to bring forth a sustainable change.

The Huawei ICT Regional Competition is a competitive ICT Talent exchange event developed by Huawei for Sub-Saharan College Students. This initiative is aimed at promoting a healthy development of the ICT Talent Ecosystem and support the integration of industry and education.

The Regional Finals commenced online in February 2022 with over 100 participants from several schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following the theme of the event entitled “Connection, Glory & Future”, this year’s regional final was held online. All candidates who attended the Regional Final emerged from the Huawei ICT Academy and had the recognized Huawei certification with each candidate participating in only one track; the Network track, Cloud track and Innovation track.

Mr. Shalom Micah, a 300-level student from the Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, whose team won the 1st place in the Cloud Track remarked that the Huawei ICT Competition is one of the biggest competitions in the world which requires a lot of resilience and grit. “The instructors were trained with the sole aim of testing the critical thinking skills, coordination under pressure and test of knowledge through times exercises”.

Mr. Adebayo Samuel Oluwafemi, a 400-level student of University of Port Harcourt, whose team won the Grand Prize in the Network Track, stated that the Huawei ICT Competition holds high prospects as it exposes candidates to real world technologies. He applauded Huawei for helping in “bridging the wide gap between academia and organizations as the knowledge gained goes a long way in students’ career”.

Mr. Leo Chen, the Huawei President of the Southern Africa Region in his opening remark at the award ceremony highlighted the fact that the world is witnessing digitalization in the African Region with ICT becoming an indispensable part of people’s live, work, education and achievement.

“According to the World Bank study on digital skills in sub-Saharan Africa, over 230,000,000 jobs in Sub Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030. Over the past 2 decades, Huawei has employed over 8,000 people in these regions in ICT being one of the top employers in the region. Some of the employees joined Huawei through the Huawei “Seed for the Future” initiative and have become top performers, team leaders and senior managers in their various fields,” he said.

“Huawei attaches great importance in developing women in the region by providing different levels of training. We believe in the saying that ‘If you educate a man, you educate one individual, if you educate a woman, you educate a society”. More excitedly for us, lots of girls have taken part in the Huawei ICT Courses and competition despite the stereotype in the ICT Sector. Huawei will achieve its goal in ICT by continuous partnership with the Domestic and International experts in the ICT field to create an ICT ecosystem where everyone will reap great benefits,” he added.

Prof. Liden Arthur Brito, the Director UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa in her speech at the award ceremony congratulated the students and winners of the competition and applauded the academia for training the future leaders who would transform the continent. She appreciated the fact that Huawei empowers teachers on ICT to impact knowledge on the students.

“Huawei empowers people, community and the continent and lack to technologies discriminates and leaves people out of development. By raising the capacity and skills of young South Africans in the different sphere, women, government, employees and the public in general in the transformation is enormously appreciated. She further appreciated Huawei’s mobilization of top key partners to achieve the goal of digitalization and transformation which is not an easy step. She stated that the winners of the competition are role models and she urged them to encourage their fellow students and friends,” she said.

Mr. Yang Chen, the Huawei Digital Talent Program Release stated that Huawei has been working hard to transfer skill and innovation to more people. One of the best achievements is the Huawei training program.

“Over 1200 instructors have been trained in the past 3 years having 3,000 courses in 5 catalogues, spanning from 5G, AI, IOT, Big Data and Cyber security. For the leadership courses, people now have access to global best practices and case study in digital economy development including policy making and developing strategy,” Chen said.