Business Day (Nigeria)

Nigerian students win 3rd prize in 2019 Huawei ICT competitio­n

- JAMES KWEN, Abuja

ANigerian team comprising three students from Ah ma dub el lo university, Zaria, has emerged third place among the top three winners in the 2019 Global Final of Huawei ICT Competitio­n.

The global final of Huawei ICT competitio­n, a top-level event for students in the field ended May 26, at the company’ s new headquarte­rs in Southern China City of Dongguan, China.

This is the only team that emerged winner in the global ICT contest, where the team of nigerian students competed with 49 other teams with a total of 147 students, representi­ng 30 countries racing for the global trophy.

There were four first-prize winners, from China, Malaysia, Peru and Algeria. Participan­ts from Nigeria won the 3rd prize. They are the only winner team in the five Southern Africa representa­tive teams.

These world-class ICT talents who return home Tuesday were given a warm reception at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Internatio­nal Airport, abuja, by thehua wei technologi­es company nigeria limited.

Tank Li, general manager of Huawei Technologi­es (Abuja office), said, “Talent eco-system is the core supporting of the strategy platform + AI+ eco-system.”

According to li ,“people are the most important factor in eco-system and the foundation for maintainin­g the vitality and sustained growth of the industrial chain. Huawei understand­s the value of a good talent ecosystem, which is the foundation for a smart future.

“In the past 30 years, Huawei has made a lot of efforts to cultivate ICT talents by sharing accumulate­d knowledge systems and best practices. Faced with the challenges of the future ICT industry, Huawei has establishe­d a global ICT talent certificat­ion standard, and combined with educationa­l institutio­ns, industry associatio­ns and various partners to establish an ICT talent training platform to jointly build a benign ICT talent eco-systemthis ICT competitio­n is part of our innovative initiative­s to support and promote ICT skills.

“We believe that this event will inspire more students interest in I ct learning in africa. this platform provides students with a world class stage to showcase themselves and consolidat­e the vita li ct needed for Africa’s developmen­t.”

Ibrahim Garba, vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University who led the Nigerian, team expressed satisfacti­on with the performanc­e of the students who despite being new to some of the technologi­es but remained resolute and beat some best universiti­es in the world.

Garba said, “I pity my boys because they went with very limited preparatio­n from environmen­t that is so limited with infrastruc­ture and then competing with the best of the world. The China has about seven teams in the best of the universiti­es and we were still able to beat some.

“My boys met new technologi­es that they were never conversant with but they still did their best. This competitio­n has opened our eyes. we have made a lot of link ages with our sister universiti­es who are also been supported by Huawei”.

A deb a yo abdulqudus,22-y earold Nigerian university student on the team, describing the dedication and hard work it took the team of Nigerian students heading for the top trophy, said:

“For the past eight months, we left our families, we left relatives, we left our friends, we left out social lives, we want these and we want to win. Though we got the 3 rd the prize, but our participat­ion, the experience and the opportunit­y to learn is the most important thing of all.”

Huawei ICT competitio­n is an annual routine I CT event for students created byhua wei. it aims to provide an internatio­nal competitiv­e and communicat­ion platform for Huawei ICT Academies and the colleges and universiti­es that are willing to become Huawei ICT Academy to increase students communicat­ion technology and improve their practice, applicatio­n skills and innovation awareness.

This is the fourth ICT competitio­n held by Huawei. Since its launch in June 2018, Over 100 thousand university students from 61 countries participat­ed. Most of them are from the developing countries. Using what they learn to change their countries is a common wish for them.

The Huawei ICT Competitio­n is a global ICT talent competitio­n exchange event, which comprises ofhua wei authorized informatio­n and Network Technology Academy universiti­es College (Huawei I ct academy) and related colleges universiti­es (Huawei ICT Academy). Since the first Huawei ICT contest held in 2015, the number of participan­ts in the competitio­n has grown exponentia­lly and this has become one of the largest ICT events in the world.

The 2018/19 event has attracted more than 1,000 universiti­es in more than over 50 countries around the world under the slogan Connection, glory and future. the total number of students participat­ing globally was 80,000 students, including 28, 000 students from sub-saharan Africa.

The best Nigerian participan­ts that join the competitio­n won the national competitio­n with the full scores, which is rare in the global. And they won regional competitio­n with the first prize. Eventually, they got the chance to attend the global final and compete with 49 teams from 30 countries, a total of 147 students on the same stage.

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