IT Diversity would lead to better innovation and improve the global economy

IT Diversity would lead to better innovation and improve the global economy

 

The Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria was the venue of the 2014 Information Technology (IT) Development Competition organised by the Nigeria Computer Society, Ogun State Chapter on November 4 - 5, 2014 with the theme "IT Diversity Perspectives for Global Impact".

The competition which started in 2009 is a gathering of students from higher institutions in Ogun State that also attracts lecturers - who are coaches, professionals and participating companies from the ICT field.

In her presentation, the guest speaker, Mrs. Funke Olakanmi-Noble of Accenture Nigeria said "as the world has become a global village, users are continually demanding for more new products and software which would seamlessly provide access."

This she maintained "provides many opportunities and threats and thus, accentuates the need for innovative individuals with diverse IT skills and ideas to impact the ever increasing population with its growing demands for easier, faster and more accessible platforms to perform both individual and corporate activities.

This diversity maximizes the effectiveness of the shared resources and thrives on virtualization to provide tools, technologies and Infrastructure to carry out processes with much more affordable prices compared to traditional computing techniques."

She however was quick to identify the areas needed to key into this vast IT opportunities as understanding the gaps in IT educational skills in order to assess the necessary skills and concepts to be inculcated into the student curricula, re-evaluating existing IT curricula to meet the changing demand of the fast-paced and dynamic IT industry and the need for government, private sector and educational institutions to make huge capital investments for the development of technical infrastructures and systems to support global IT trends.

With this, the speaker is sure IT diversity would lead to better innovation within the IT marketplace and essentially improve the global economy.

A number of other presentations were made by other guest speakers including Dr. Niran Oyekale, CEO, Commit Technology and Consult.

According to the Chairman of the society, Dr. Bukola Onashoga while addressing the audience during the opening ceremony of the competition said "this year's event is a clear departure from the norm as the frontiers of the event was elaborated to accommodate institutions from across the South West zone of the country, which include the premier university, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Oyo State College of Agricultural Institute, Crawford University, Babcock University, Federal College of Education, Abeokuta and DS Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic among others."

The Chairman of the occasion and the Vice Chancellor of the host institution, Professor I. A. Adeyemi commended the organisers for the sustenance of the IT Development Programme, especially the 6^th edition.

The two-day event, for the first time, featured an IT Innovation Presentation where participating institutions made presentations on using IT tools to solve problems in the society. It was a beauty to behold as Speakers from the various tertiary institutions made fantastic, brilliant and feasible presentations about using Information and Communication Technology to solve problems in different sectors ranging from the maritime to transportation industry and the banking sector.

At the end of the contest, it was the Lagos State University who came out tops while Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta followed closely as first runners up and Crawford University emerged as the second runners up.

However, a major upset was caused later in the day, when Ogun State Institute of Technology, Igbesa against all odds emerged as the winner of the IT Quiz competition, outscoring their counterparts from the universities namely Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and University of Lagos who finished in the second and third positions respectively.

On the second day, the healthy rivalry between the institutions continued, as the stage was set for the much-awaited Accenture Software Development Challenge where participants are expected to build, design and program codes from the scratch to develop a web portal for e-learning. Three hours was the time allotted for the competition which interestingly drew the presence of the company with the best software in the world, Microsoft Nigeria and the sponsor, Accenture Nigeria.

It was accolades, shouts, back-patting and pageantry as the winner of the competition was announced by the judges, after a long-awaited and suspense-filled break period. The winner was no other than the host institution, Bells University of Technology, Ota who had left it late to give their teeming colleagues and other students of the institution something to cheer about. Babcock University were the proud first runners-up while Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta also went home as the second runners up.

By and large, the programme lived up to its billing and participants alike were delighted to be part of the epoch-making IT event of the year. Prizes were presented to winners of the different competitions.

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CAPTION

2014 IT DEVPT (1) - L-R: Dr. Bukola Onashoga, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun State Chapter, Chief Host & Vice Chancellor, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Prof. I.A. Adeyemi (2nd right) with Winner, Accenture Software Development Challenge, Bells University of Technology, Ota

2014 IT DEVPT (2) - Dr. Bukola Onashoga, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun State Chapter, Chief Host & Vice Chancellor, Bells University , Prof. I.A. Adeyemi, Accenture representatives and Microsoft representatives with Winner Accenture Software Development Challenge, Bells University of Technology, Ota

2014 IT DEVPT (3) - Dr. Bukola Onashoga, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun State Chapter (middle), Prof. I.A. Adeyemi, Chief Host & Vice Chancellor, Bells University, Mrs. Funke Olakanmi-Noble of Accenture Nigeria (back row - in pink), coaches and participants in a group photograph during the 2014 IT Development Competition held at Bells University of Technology, Ota

2014 IT DEVPT (4) - (6) - Participants during the Accenture Software Development Challenge at Bells University of Technology, Ota