Kaduna ICT
Kaduna ICT Hub Institutes Creativity Festival for
Students
The Kaduna ICT Hub (KADICT Hub), in partnership with the Kaduna
State Ministry of Education, has instituted an annual Science
Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Creativity
Festival.
This is to spur innovation in students and the general public,
according to Engr. Yusuf Bashir.
Bashir, who is the co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
of the Hub, spoke in a telephone interview with PRNigeria[1].
He said: “We have also formed strategic partnerships with all
the major higher institutions in Kaduna State to transform
innovative ideas into products or companies. The STEM and
Creativity Festival, together with the Hackathons are organized for
talented youths to peak their interest in ICT.”
The seasoned ICT expert, pointed out that the ‘Campus Blockchain
Hackathon’, which their Hub organized sometimes in 2019, was an
initiative of the Nigerian Blockchain Alliance (NBA), a
sub-division of Cryptography Development Initiative in Nigeria
(CDIN).
“The reason why the KADICT Hub organized a Campus Blockchain
Hackathon was to spur innovation by exceptionally-gifted youths and
talented Nigerian students in the Blockchain space,” he
explained.
The hackathon, according to Engr. Bashir, was organized to
engage the academic community on the importance of Blockchain
Technology, its relevant use cases, and more specific, its adoption
for enterprising solutions.
He said: “We are very active in the Blockchain ecosystem
globally. For example our platform www.bitcertify.io provides
training and online job placement services for the cryptocurrency
sector.
“Our world is undergoing a massive technological transformation.
Blockchain is a major technological invention of the last decade
that creates unprecedented opportunities to re-think the way the
world operates and interacts.”
While speaking further during the interview, Bashir, noted that
KADICT Hub was established because of the need to institute a
culture of innovation through Information Communication Technology
(ICT).
He said by training and utilizing their trained students to
implement various ICT projects, they are promoting local
content.
“For instance, in our first year, I brought in many experts from
the United States and other parts of the world to impart lucrative
ICT skills our youths, here in Kaduna. But now, the training is all
done by the trainers, we trained locally,” he added.
The ICT guru, who disclosed that KADICT Hub has trained over
10,000 Kaduna State residents in the last three years, said their
Hub also secured funding to train 1 million persons, over the next
four year, while providing online jobs for no fewer than 100,000
residents.
Engr. Bashir, who is also the co-Founder of Africa Blockchain
Lab, further explained that their KADICT Hub has automated the
vehicle registration process for the Kaduna state government, and
is working towards generating more revenue for the State
government.
“The Kaduna State Government has done an excellent job in
providing the enabling environment for the ICT sector to thrive.
For example, the state government has waived the Right of Way
charges (RoW). So, this will significantly lower the cost of data
in Kaduna State, therefore leading to more residents having access
to innovations in the fields of science and technology,” he
said.