By Tunde Olofintila
In a remarkable display of both Academic and ICT prowess, six Computer Science Students of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, secured a resounding victory at the 2023 edition of TechXPlore, a tech Convention involving ten Federal and Private Universities in Nigeria.
The Federal Universities are University of Ilorin, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, University of Lagos while the Private Universities are Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Bells University, Otta, Bowen University, Iwo, Crawford University, Igbesa, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos and Adeleke University, Ede.
The week-long Convention which included such activities as Software Pitching, Inter-University Debate, Panel Discussion, Seminar, School Tour, Tech Hiring, Dinner and Award Ceremony, took place on the serene campus of Babcock University.
The event was aimed at bringing some of the brightest minds in the Departments of Computer Science from various Nigerian universities, Industry Leaders and Innovators from around the globe to showcase their tech products (software pitching), participate in the inter-university debate, and gain employment opportunities amongst other things.
The team which did ABUAD proud consisted of six Computer Science students, Mbato Chimenem, Olatokun Abdulazeez Olayinka, Bakare Firdous, Ndubuisi Chidinma Adelle, Salami Oluwaseun Samuel and Adebayo Adedolapo Kehinde who were accompanied by two of their Lecturers, Mr. A. O. Sanya and Mrs. Tope-Oke.
While the trio of Kehinde, Firdous and Chidinma represented ABUAD in the Debate session, the trio of Chimenem, Abdulazeez and Oluwaseun represented the 21st Century University in Software pitching category.
At round One of the Debate on “Social Media is a plus to humanity”, the ABUAD Team triumphed over its Bells University counterpart by scoring 86% against Bells University’s 83% to emerge the Overall Best for the First Round.
During the Second Round when they spoke on “Technology is making us more human”, ABUAD recorded a hard-won victory by scoring 73.9% against its opponent, Caleb University which scored 73.5%.
During the final round of the Debate, the ABUAD Debate Team defended the motion “Artificial Intelligence Is A Threat To Humanity”, an extremely heated debate against the Babcock University Team with both sides delivering salient points.
At the end the day, the Judges came to a unanimous conclusion with ABUAD securing 82% against Babcock University’s 74% to emerge Overall Winner of the debate.
The team ABUAD glowed like the bright Northern star at the Software Pitching session where they presented their Innovative Idea titled “Vet-Vision”, a revolutionary system for early detection of life-threatening diseases in livestock.
Impressed by the solution presented by the Team, the Software Pitching Judges dubbed the Team as “outstanding and adding to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 and 8 of the United Nations”.
The Convention also included a Seminar where the likes of Adetunji Tejuosho, Head of Academy at Kuda Microfinance Bank, spoke about achieving success in the Tech Space, regardless of one’s course of study.
Another speaker was Victor Ifeanyichukwu, an alumnus of ABUAD, a 2019 graduate from the Department of Computer Engineering. Ifeanyichukwu who currently works with Wema Bank Plc as a Cybersecurity Specialist (Purple Teamer), delivered a talk on the different ways systems can be penetrated and industry best practices to secure them.
Impressed by the superlative performance of the ABUAD Team, Ifeanyichukwu offered to mentor Salami Oluwaseun, one of the ABUAD students on the Software Pitching Team, who also has interests in Cybersecurity. He also gave Olatokun Abdulazeez a link to a Mentor in Product Design.
Other goodies accruing to the members of the ABUAD Team include their being interviewed by the Kuda Microfinance Bank Talent Scout Team, collection of their Bio Data and being added to the Kuda Talent Pool, a pipeline of outstanding university students who would later be contacted for job interviews.
At the parting Dinner for participants, the Kuda Head of Academy commended the ABUAD Team for their decorous behaviour, their uniformity in dressing and the confidence they exhibited during the Tech Hiring interview and described its members as “exceptional” and “a stand-out from the rest”.
On the week-long experience, Chidinma Ndubuisi had this to say: “The experience at TechXplore has been truly wonderful, educational, fun, and remarkably memorable”.
She added: “We are immensely grateful to our beloved university for providing the opportunity for us to participate. We will keep encouraging students’ engagement in future events, sharing the invaluable benefits and opportunities”.
In his response, the Founder & Chancellor of the university, Aare Afe Babalola promised to set up Tech Hub made up of Lecturers and Researchers in the university’s College of Engineering and College of Sciences as well as some gifted students in appreciation of excellence displayed by his students at the Convention.
Babalola thanked the students and their Lecturers for expanding his vision, stressing that when you have a vision, you are the only one who can drive it, but you have joined the drivers of my vision for which posterity will reward you.
According to the elated Founder, his vision and mission for establishing ABUAD which commenced Academic works on Monday, January 4, 2010 to institutionalize quality and functional education, teach Nigerians how a university, properly so-called, should be run and produce a new generation of leaders who will make the difference in all areas of human endeavour are fast becoming a reality.
Olofintila is Director, Corporate Affairs, ABUAD.
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