ABUJA – (Federal Ministry of Communications Report) – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has charged young innovators to come up with disruptive technology and crazy ideas that would completely change the way we live in Nigeria.
He stated this during the presentation of the Young Innovators tagged: “Seeds for the Future” by the Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Nigeria Ltd, Zhang Lulu at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja. In addressing the Young Innovators travelling to China, the Minister urged them to explore emerging technology, come up with disruptive technology and build applications that will completely change the way we live and interact with one another.
Pantami reiterated that the expectation of the Federal Government is for the young innovators to come back from the scheme to create jobs as the digital economy has the potential to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.
“As potential digital personalities, you must think about being potential employers. Come up with big ideas as you become potential employers, instead of job seekers. Each and every one of you should think of employing 50,000 people in a few years,” he stated.
“In the next few years, most probably one may not need to travel to India, Egypt, USA or UK for medical attention or surgery. Surgery can be conducted by using 5G and through artificial intelligence.”
He urged them to focus more on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud computing, quantum computing, mega storages, internet of things, visual reality and augmented reality. The Minister thanked the Huawei Technologies for keying into the capacity building programme of the young innovators in the country and urged them to focus on the hands-on training to bridge the gap between the academia and the industry.
The Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Nigeria Ltd, Zhang Lulu while presenting the students from different institutions in Nigeria noted that Huawei has been investing in digital skills in Nigeria and had implemented various programmes in the country. He added that during the young innovators visit to China, they would be able to attend hands-on trainings at the Huawei’s world class labs, learn the latest trends happening in the industry and exchange ideas with experts from around the world at their global headquarters in China.
The Young Innovators selected from different Universities are Ugwu Obinna, University of Ibadan; Udohi Young, Covenant University; Akingbola Oluwapemisin, Univeristy of Ibadan; Onuora Chiamaka, University of Lagos; Ihenyen Joy, Igbinedion University and Fatima Rabiu, Ahmadu Bello University. Others are Kolade Joseph, Cloud Exchange Technical School; David Kemdirim, University of Port Harcourt; Abdussamad Musa and Abdulrahman Aliyu, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University.
