Minister award winners of Huawei national ICT competition

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has awarded 35 individuals for their excellence in the field of information and communication technology (ICT).

The awardees emerged from the about 400 students from over 50 universities across Nigeria, who competed for the national award. The competition, which held earlier in the month, was put together by Huawei, a global provider of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices.

Pantami, along side the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Dr. Chris Mayaiki; Vice Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, Igbinedion University Okada, University of Abuja, University of Port Harcourt, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Ahmadu Bello University, FUT Minna, Niger State University and Nile University were at the event.

10 students from University of Port Harcourt, ABU Zaria, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and University of Jos excelled among their pairs and qualified for the Huawei Regional Final Award following a brilliant performance in the cloud and network examination.

Other awards were given to four Huawei student ambassadors, 10 best Huawei instructors, five best Huawei ICT Academies and five best supporting Vice Chancellors from University of Port Harcourt, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, University of Jos, Federal University of Technology, Minna and Igbinedion University Okada.

During his speech, Pantami, was pleased with the collaboration between the Ministry and Huawei in fulfilling its MoU target in respect to upskilling Nigerians. He further used the “opportunity on behalf of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to appreciate Huawei for their tremendous intervention, concern and care towards training the youths across the country on ICT.”

He implored Huawei to work harder for the implementation of the Digital Policy for Nigeria.

The Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, Michael Zhuang, applauded the minister for his able support and leadership in the Digital Economy sector of Nigeria. “Thanks to the leadership and initiative of the Prof. Pantami, Nigerian students now have the opportunity to learn more and do more in both their academic career and ICT industry relevant knowledge.”

He said the partnership will afford the students the opportunity to achieve both academic and industry certification at the same time creating a pool of skilled Nigerians in ICT to build and manage the digital economy of the Nation.

The Huawei ICT competition launched in 2017 has become one of the firm’s most influential competitions. The competition is intended for students in Huawei ICT academies and those in higher education institutions that are willing to join the ICT Academy worldwide. The Huawei Competition provides students with a platform to compete healthily and exchange ideas, sharpening and enhancing the ICT Knowledge and practical skills as well as increasing their ability to innovate by using new technologies and platforms.

Following the MoU signed with the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy and Huawei to train 30,000 Nigerian youths across the country by 2023, currently, over 8,300 Nigerian students have benefitted from the relevant skill acquisition training. So far, over 1,000 Nigerian Students trained by Huawei have been gainfully employed and equipped with Huawei Professional Certification exams.