Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited has hosted students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria to a one-day campus talk and job fair at the university aimed at enabling the students to interact directly with the tech firm staff and prepare them for future careers in Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
Speaking at the job fair, Kenneth Igwe, Huawei Channel Training Manager (ICT Talent Ecosystem Development) in Nigeria, said: “this event is organized by Huawei to meet with students from the Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy universities and related colleges (Huawei ICT Academy), interact with them, then select excellent students through two evaluation process, test and interview for employment in Huawei and Huawei partners.”
He said that “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.”
Addressing participants at the gathering, Professor M.B Mu’Azu, Director, Institute of Computing and ICT and HOD, Computer Engineering Dept at ABU, commended the visit of Huawei Technologies.
He noted that the interaction with the organization will help boost the students’ confidence, especially those preparing for future careers in ICT.
Also speaking, the Director of Huawei Nigeria Enterprise Delivery Department, Melissa Chenyanfeng, said “this year marks the 20th Year of Huawei operating in Nigeria.”
She added: “Huawei through our many CSR programmes aims to reach many lives in Nigeria, especially the education sector. We also have the Seeds for the Future Programme, where we send 10 students to China for 2 weeks, all expenses covered by Huawei, which we have done for the past 2 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 digitalization plan for the nearest future.”
The Huawei job fair and campus talk team was made up of 8 interviewers led by the Director of Human Resource, Huawei Nigeria Enterprise Business Department, Ms. Zheng Kunkun.
“Huawei places a great emphasis on selecting the best Nigerian students with Huawei Certificates through the job fair programme. So far, after 2 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.
“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.” Ms. Kunkun added.
Commenting on the event, Hamza Atabor, a student of Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, 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 understand the importance of building and developing a skill in today’s world.
“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, amongst many others to enable me prepare for the task that lies ahead for a better and brighter career in future.
“The job fair made me see the value in little things I could do that I never thought would yield much. All I had to do was to keep learning so that it will 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.”
Also speaking, another participant, Amina Muhammad, who is also a student of Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, said: “This job fair has a positive impact on my educational life and future career in the sense that it made me have hope on my dream of becoming a network engineer which motivated me to work harder and harder.”
It would be recalled that Huawei Technologies 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 organization 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, as well as launch and sign the MoU (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 recently applauded Huawei Technologies for an increased partnership with universities and colleges across Nigeria in the last twelve months which has resulted to “more than 55 MoUs signed with partners to be Huawei ICT Academies and giving more than 13,000 students opportunities to participate in the recently concluded Huawei 2018 – 2019 ICT Competition.”
