The ongoing North-East Model ICT School construction in Bauchi
ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, (ATBU) Bauchi will soon establish a Faculty of Computing in addition to the existing Computer Science program.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Muhammad Abdullazeez, disclosed this during the handing over of a Digital Laboratory equipment donated to the Institution by Huawei Technology Company on Tuesday.
He said that the University and indeed Nigerians should key into the new technology or be left behind, adding that the ICT Academy in the university to boost its ICT competence.
Abdullazeez called in Nigerians not to fight the 5G technology but instead, they should embrace it because there are lots of benefits.
He said: “Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University is known in Engineering and Computer Science. Presently, I have a list of many companies that are headed by graduates of ATBU and they are willing to assist the University to establish Faculty of Computing.
“I think that by next year, by God’s grace, we will start the Faculty of Computing. We want to make sure that we give priority to Computing.
“We are talking about digital economy, digital communication, digital learning, and the rest, so we should not be left behind but we will key in to make sure that we have achieved what we want to achieve and we have the maximum benefit from Huawei Academy.
“I was in China on the invitation of Huawei and I saw what they are have and I think we can benefit a lot from Huawei Academy. Accidentally, they are leading edge in terms of technology, they have 5G, when I was there, they were even thinking of 6G.
“The best thing is that we should not fight it, let’s try to also join the bandwagon, let’s try to get what we can get before they come out with 8G or 9G.”
Mohammed Abdulaziz then commended Huawei Company for finding his institution worthy to be selected as Center of digital excellence in the North East subregion.
He said that through the collaboration, two students of the University traveled to China for the Huawei Academy for two and were trained there.
Speaking while presenting the laboratory equipment, the Country Channel Training Manager, Huawei Technology Company Nigeria, Kenneth Igwe, explained that the donation stemmed from a partnership entered into between the Company and ATBU in January, 2020.
He said his organization is collaborating with Nigerian universities in order to promote digital connectivity saying that
Igwe said that with the collaboration, many Nigerian students have visited Huawei headquarters in China for further research and development studies stressing that the importance of digital research cannot be overemphasized in the development of the country.
He added that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has been the main driver of the programme because the focus is to ensure that the country developed its digital base in order to compete with other global economies.
Igwe assured that the company will equip the ICT department of ATBU just as it has done in other universities across the country.
He said that ATBU is being identified as the ICT hub in the North East subregion where other universities and institutions are to visit for patronage.