Huawei strengthens partnership with Nigerian tertiary institutions

As part of efforts to strengthen partnership with tertiary institutions and support talent development, Huawei Technologies Company (Nigeria) Limited has aided some Nigerian universities and recently hosted an ICT Academy Teachers Summit in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, Stephen Zou, deputy managing director of Huawei Technologies, emphasised the company’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s talent development ecosystem.

He said, “We gather to connect with our valued academic partners, brought together by the Huawei ICT Talent Ecosystem. This collaborative framework aims to foster strong ties in ICT talent cultivation and development, which is crucial for advancing Nigeria’s digital transformation. We commend all those present for the progress achieved so far.

“We recognise the solid foundation laid by esteemed institutions such as Ahmadu Bello University, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, University of Ibadan, University of Port Harcourt, and many more. Your dedicated nurturing of ICT talents underscores your pivotal role in propelling talent development within the nation. Since 1999, Huawei has thrived in the enabling Nigerian environment, emerging as a premier ICT solution provider.

“Our ICT talent cultivation initiatives exemplify this approach, including the Seeds for the Future programme, Huawei ICT Academy, Huawei ICT Competition, and The Job Fair. We firmly believe that digital transformation hinges on talent, not just technology,” he added.

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Also, at the event, Huawei solidified its commitment by signing memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the University of Port Harcourt.

Idris Bugaje, the executive secretary of NBTE, who spoke at the event, thanked Huawei for the partnership with the body, adding that the MoU has further cemented the relationship. According to him, the MoU will facilitate the training of students in 21 polytechnics across the nation. He also explained that the collaboration would help in the dual certification of students, which is expected to provide them with hands-on certification. He also thanked Huawei for the 70 percent discount provided for the training.

Also speaking at the event, the vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Owunari Georgewill, described the partnership as fantastic, saying the world is now digitalised. He further said that the University will continue to contribute its quota to the digital era and that with the MoU and support from Huawei, students of the school will also train the trainers.

“You can’t digitalise the world if people are not trained. We are very grateful to Huawei. The impact of this support is that the students will be industry-ready, and when they graduate, they will be easily employable,” he said.

The MoU with the University of Port Harcourt made the school the second Huawei iASC partner in Nigeria. In order to help Nigerian universities cultivate more ICT talents that meet industry standards, Huawei donated ICT Lab equipment to the school, to cover both infrastructure and cloud computing training. i.e. Datacom, security, WLAN, storage, AI, cloud computing courses.