Huawei is going to sponsor 10 Nigerian students in ICT-related majors to study and gain hands-on practice in China. This is third consecutive year of this program known as Seeds for the Future, through which Huawei fulfils it's corporate social responsibility and commitment to the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide further training for Nigerian youths in ICT.
This year these students will be selected from those who signed to the Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA, also called the Huawei ICT Academy), which is a partnership project between Huawei and universities offering Huawei ICT courses to encourage students to attain Huawei certification in support of a subsequent career in the ICT industry.
The launching ceremony and interview had in attendance the representative of the Huawei Managing Director, Mr Simon Zhang, The Deputy Vice Chancellor University of Lagos, Professor Oluwole Babafemi Familoni, The representative of the Vice Chancellor University of Nigeria, Professor Kenneth Ofokansi (With Mr. Charles Emembolu (CEO) of partner Company Crestsage Limited), Director of Information Communication Technology/Central Record Processing Unit of the University of Benin, Professor Frederick Osaro Ekhaise, Executive Principal for Cloud Exchange Technical School, Mr Mohammed Aliyu and the top 20 students from across different universities in Nigeria.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, the Channel Service Director of Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited Mr Simon Zhang said,
The program seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the ICT sector, and to improve and encourage regional building and participation in the digital economy
He further said that Huawei is working towards building a long lasting relationship with Top universities in Nigeria through the Huawei ICT Academy by training over 100,000 students every year.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Oluwole Babafemi Familoni in his speech encouraged the students to put in their best in the last stage of the competition in Nigeria. He further said that the youths can enhance their IT skills for future inventions that will improve the status quo of Nigeria.
This month, more than 10 universities have signed to the Huawei ICT Academy. The target this year is 40 ICT academies, and 25,000 students for the ICT competition. One team will be selected to go to South Africa for the Regional ICT competition, while the best team will proceed to the Global competition in China. The continued cooperation between Huawei and the partner universities will see more and more students benefitting from the program and building their careers.
Speaking at the event, one of the beneficiaries of this initiative, Mr Michael Maxwell, a participant of the Huawei ICT competition, thanked Huawei Technology for the opportunity given to the students of the University of Nsukka to benefit from HAINA (Huawei Authorized Information Technology and Network Academy) which started this year and has successfully trained 50 students.
Currently, students from the University of Nsukka, Nigeria (UNN), University of Lagos, University of Benin and other universities across Nigeria are beneficiaries of this initiative.
