Applauds as Team Nigeria Emerges First Position in 2020 Huawei Global ICT Competition

Team Nigeria, comprising of some Nigerian students from the University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and University of Port Harcourt respectively, have won the grand first place position out of over 150,000 other students who participated in the Cloud and Network examination at the 2020 Huawei ICT Competition.

The students were honoured for their achievement at an online awards ceremony hosted from the Huawei Headquarters in China.

The closing award ceremony event which held on the 14th of November, 2020 at the Huawei Nigeria (Abuja) office was attended by the representative of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Nasir Sa’idu Adhama, Special Assistant on Youth and Students Affairs, the representative of the  minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Dr. Abimbola Alale, the Managing Director/CEO, NIGCOMSAT, the representative of the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, Mr. Chris Maiyaki, deputy executive secretary of the NUC, some university vice chancellors and representatives, Huawei management staff, the award-winning students, instructors, parents and the media.

 

Recall, six Nigerian students who were from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna state, represented the country in the 2018/2019 Huawei Information Communication Technology (ICT) competition Global Finals held in China, May last year, while three of them emerged winners, making Nigeria first in Africa in the contest.

This year marks the fifth iteration of the Huawei ICT Competition, which includes the Practice and Innovation Competitions.

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Speaking on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Special Assistant on Youth and Students Affairs, Mr. Nasir Sa’idu Adhama, congratulated the Nigerian students for coming this far in the Global ICT Competition and also thanked Huawei for supporting Nigerian students and hoped that Huawei would continue to partner with the country in developing its ICT capabilities.

Representative of the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the Managing Director/CEO, NIGCOMSAT, Dr. Abimbola Alale expressed gratitude to Huawei for the opportunity given to the Nigerian students to showcase their expertise at the global level and congratulated the students for making Nigeria proud.

Mr. Chris Maiyaki, deputy executive secretary of the NUC, speaking on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed said, “the National Universities Commission will like to rejoice with Huawei and the triumphant Nigerian students on this occasion – the Huawei Global ICT competition – which is now highly regarded as the annual knowledge festival. The NUC is honoured to be associated to this success story. This proves that with the right environment and ecosystem, Nigeria can take on global counterparts on any intellectual platform.”

The Huawei ICT competition which was established to foster ICT learning in Africa and bridge the gap between theoretical study and practical industry experience typically comprises of a national preliminary contest, regional semi-final and a Global final.

With two tracks, Network and Cloud, the Practice Competition primarily examines the ICT knowledge, hands-on skills, and teamwork exhibited by students. Meanwhile, the Innovation Competition evaluates students’ capabilities in terms of innovation, cooperation, and development by using cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, big data, and AI.

The fifth Huawei ICT Competition has set a new participation record, attracting almost 150,000 students from over 2,000 colleges and universities encompassing more than 82 countries and regions. A total of 109 teams (327 students) from 39 countries and regions successfully made it to the Global Final.

Mr. Ma Yue, Executive Vice President of Huawei Enterprise Business Group (EBG) , Huawei EBG Global Partner Development and Sales President, delivered a video speech in which he remarked, “In the next decade, we will apply new ICT more widely and deeply. ICT is the cornerstone of the intelligent world, and talent is crucial for the digital transformation of industries and directly contributes to the development of the digital economy. Huawei is committed to building a healthy ICT talent ecosystem, promoting digital skills, contributing to the prosperity of the ICT industry, and ultimately enabling more people to benefit from the digital world.”

Mr. Ding Lianpu, Division Director of the China Center for International People-to-People Exchange under the Ministry of Education, addressed the audience onsite.

He noted, “The 2020 Huawei ICT Competition is a global event in this special time. It promotes the exchange and development of science and technology worldwide. The new participation record shows that countries and regions around the world attach importance to the Huawei ICT Competition, and that they recognize the great contributions that Huawei has made to human civilization as well as science and technology progress.”