ICT contest: Nigerian students’ big win

LAST week, Nigerian students placed Nigeria in the global spotlight at the Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024 Global Final held in Shenzhen, China. Four teams from Nigeria secured two grand prizes and two first prizes at the event held on May 26. The Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA), Niger State, produced the two network teams which both won first place. The other winners and participants with impressive performances were from the University of  Ibadan, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, University of Benin, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, and the Federal University of Technology, Akure. At the competition designed to help students enhance their ICT knowledge and practical skills, the Nigerian teams emerged as part of 19 teams from nine countries that won the grand prizes of the Practice and Innovation Competitions. This 8th edition of the Huawei ICT Competition with the theme “Connection, Glory and Future,” reportedly attracted more than 170,000 students from over 2,000 universities and colleges across more than 80 countries and regions, making it the largest offline competition since its launch.

Ahead of the keenly contested prizes, over 160 teams comprising more than 470 contestants from 49 different countries and regions passed through national and regional competitions to reach this year’s global final. The Nigeria team comprising four students from the University of Ibadan, namely Rufus Olusoji Adisa, Tolani Adekunle Adisa, Chibueze Emmanuel Ibekwe and Lawrence Chukwuemeka, won the grand prize in the Computing Track category. In the Cloud Track category, another Nigerian team from the university won the grand prize. The team comprised Lukman Oyeniyi Abdulyekeen, Sodiq Babawale and Temiloluwa Oloye. That was not all: two teams from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, also won first prizes in the Network Track category. Students in Team 1 included Knimi Bakna Musa, Kaosar Salaudeen Ahmad, Taiye Ayantola, and Oluwagbemiga Victor Ogundele, while Team 2 had Justus Ilegieuno, Yusuf Olanrewaju Toye and Jamiu Damilare Dahunsi. The Nigerian students beat thousands of competitors at the national level competition that tested a range of practical and theoretical digital skills, and represented Nigeria at the regional level contest where they qualified for the finals in China.

Said Huawei: “Two of the four teams that won the Grand Prize were from Nigeria—the Nigeria Cloud Team 2, and the Nigeria Computing Team. Also, three teams from Nigeria were part of the six teams that won first prize: Kenya Network Team 1, Kenya Network Team 2, Nigeria Network Team 1, Nigeria Network Team 2, Uganda Network Team 2, and Nigeria Cloud Team 1.” The winning teams arrived in Shenzhen, China, on May 21 for the global finals held between May 23, and May 26, when the top prize winners were announced. Justus, a member of the network team that won first place, said: “Winning the first prize is a big achievement for my team. With both teams from Federal University of Technology Minna NIHUB, led by our instructors, we were able to collaborate and push each other through the stages of the competition. It was a memorable experience and I’m grateful.” Speaking at the event, the President of Huawei’s ICT Strategy and Business Development Department, Ritchie Peng,  had described ICT as the cornerstone of the intelligent world. According to Peng: “ICT is the cornerstone of the intelligent world. Through the Huawei ICT Competition, we aim to provide students with a global platform to compete and exchange ideas.”

Amid the general climate of despair that currently envelopes the country, this story provides some elixir. It is soul-lifting, confirming our long-held view that Nigeria’s young people aren’t just a lazy, unproductive lot.  We have always maintained that Nigerian youth are brimming with talent, and that what has been lacking is the enabling environment that will make their diverse talents to shine through. Last year, Nigerian students from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) won the innovation grand prize at the competition among 120,000 students from 2,000 universities across 74 countries worldwide. In recent times, Nigerian youth have more or less taken the Guinness World Records by storm, breaking world records. In January this year, the Guinness authorities exulted in the feats of three Nigerian teenagers who set a total of five world records with their skipping skills. According to them, “Gbenga Ezekiel, 18, achieved the most skips in one minute on one leg (278), breaking his own record of 265, and the most double under skips in one minute on one leg (144), beating the previous record of 132, set by India’s Himanshu Prajapati in 2021. On the same day, Philip Solomon, 16, also broke one of Himanshu’s records for the most rope crossovers while skipping on one leg in 30 seconds (69) and equalled another for the most rope crossovers while skipping on one leg in 30 seconds blindfolded (62). These are Philip’s second and third Guinness World Records titles – he earned his first in early 2023 after performing the most skips in 30 seconds on one foot (153). The third record breaker, 16-year-old Dunsin Dubem, achieved the most double under crossovers while skipping in 30 seconds (78), surpassing the previous record by five.”

Chancellor Ahaghotu, a Nigerian art student, recently broke the decade-long record for the longest painting marathon by continuously painting for 100 hours. And there was Hilda Baci with her cook-a-thon. If governments across all levels reinvent the Nigerian environment, the country will produce the kind of world beaters that nobody ever imagined would burst forth. Beyond that, Nigeria itself stands to gain a great lot from them. We salute the ICT winners in Shenzhen and urge them to strive towards greater accomplishments. These are the kinds of models that Nigeria’s young people should look up to. They are great national assets.

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