Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited has hosted a one-day campus talk and job fair at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in a bid to give Nigerian students global exposure and opportunities that will allow them compete with their global peers.
The job fair gives students an opportunity to interact directly with the organisation and prepare them for future careers in Information and Communications Technology.
Speaking to journalists at the one-day event, the Huawei Channel Training Manager (ICT Talent Ecosystem Development) in Nigeria, Kenneth Igwe, said that the essence of the event was to meet students from the Huawei Authorised Information and Network Academy universities and related colleges (Huawei ICT Academy).
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He said the visit would allow the Chinese company to interact with the students while also selecting the best among them through two evaluation processes – test and interview – for employment in Huawei and its partners.
“The programme completes the circle of the Huawei ICT talent ecosystem development, where Huawei trains and certify students, and then provide them with work and experience opportunities,” Igwe said.
The Director, Institute of Computing and Head of Department, Computer Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. M.B. Mu’Azu, commended the visit of Huawei, stating that the interaction with the company would help to boost confidence for the students in future ICT and related careers.
He also described the opportunity as one that pointed the students to the rewards for their hard work and diligence.
“I hope this will not be the last but the first of many opportunities for students of Ahmadu Bello University and Nigerian students generally,” Mu’Azu said.
A student of Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering in the university, Hamza Atabor, said, “I had a great experience from the job fair as it created some level of awareness about the ongoing technology trends in today’s society. It also made me to understand the importance of building and developing a skill in today’s world.
“I felt overwhelmed to be in an event organised by the tech giant, Huawei. With the opportunities that were open to me at that time, I realised that developing a skill in relation to ICT keeps you ahead in many aspects and gives you a better reason to hope and prepare for a better future.”
He said, “This is my first time attending a job fair, and I must say this left a mark of excitement, hard work, commitment to talent acquisition, among many others, to enable me to prepare for the task that lies ahead for a better and brighter career in future.
“The job fair made me to see the value in the little things I could do that I never thought would yield much. All I had to do was to keep learning so that it would not only be useful to me, but to the world. I would love to be a part of a good future, and with Huawei supporting me, I see a much better future ahead. Thank you.”
Another student of Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering, Amina Muhammad, said “This job fair has a positive impact on my educational life and future career, in the sense that it made me to have hope on my dreams of becoming a network engineer, which motivated me to work harder and harder.”
Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria has continuously positioned itself in Nigeria at the forefront of driving ICT skills development through knowledge transfer schemes and partnerships with universities and academic institutions.
The organisation recently celebrated the achievement of some Nigerian students for their remarkable performance (emerging among the top three winners competing with 49 other teams and a total of 147 students representing 30 countries) at the Huawei Global ICT Competition held in China. It also launched and signed the Memorandum of Understanding (between Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited and National Information Technology Development Agency) for the participation of Nigeria in the 2019/2020 national ICT competition edition.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications, M.F. Istifanus, represented by the Director of ICT, Federal Ministry of Communications, Dr Moni Udoh, during the Huawei ICT Award ceremony had applauded Huawei Technologies for increased partnership with universities and colleges across Nigeria in the last 12 months.
He said, “This had resulted to more than 55 MoUs signed with partners to be part of Huawei ICT Academies and giving more than 13,000 students opportunities to participate in the recently concluded Huawei 2018 – 2019 ICT Competition.”
He also said, “We appreciate the attention Huawei has paid to this programme by focusing not only on the students, but also building the skills and capacities of our universities and lecturers.
“We strongly believe that the skills transferred through this programme will enhance the quality of our educational system and provide economic opportunities to individuals as well as the broader economic development of not only Nigeria but the whole of Africa.”
Addressing journalists, the Director of Huawei Nigeria Enterprise Delivery Department, Melissa Chenyanfeng, said, “This marks the 20th year of Huawei operating in Nigeria. Huawei, through our many Corporate Social Responsibility programmers, aims to reach many lives in Nigeria, especially in the education sector. We also have the Seeds for the Future programme, where we send 10 students to China for two weeks, all expenses covered by Huawei, which we have done for the past two years.
“Huawei will continue to invest in collaboration with universities and continuously supply excellent candidates to Huawei’s ICT talent eco-system. Huawei’s vision in Nigeria is to create an ICT talent ecosystem that will form the foundation in the digitalisation plan for the nearest future.”
The Huawei job fair and campus talk team was made up of eight interviewers led by the Director of Human Resource, Huawei Nigeria Enterprise Business Department, Ms. Zheng Kunkun, who said that “Huawei places a great emphasis on selecting the best Nigerian students with Huawei Certificates through the job fair programme. So far, after two rounds of interviews, there are over 20 candidates who have passed the first screening, among whom 10 are expected to get an offer for industrial training, NYSC placement, among other opportunities.”
Kunkun added, “This campus talk and job fair held at Ahmadu Bello University is just the beginning. We are planning to do the same with other universities, such as University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, etc.”
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