Abia State Poly wins ISPON software contest’11

The Abia State Polytechnic has emerged winner of the maiden edition of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) national software contest cup with the Biometric Finger Print Voting System application.

They beat 19 other tertiary institutions across the country that made it to the finals in Tinapa, Calabar, with the University of Lagos coming first runner-up while, Delta State University, Abraka came second runner up.

Confirming this the chairman, publicity committee at ISPON, Mr. Moses Briamah, said that Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State who hosted the competition was so impressed with the performance of the students that immediately announced additional monetary rewards to all of them.

He also said that the Abia State Polytechnic team was given N1 million; 1st runner-up N500,000; 2nd runner-up N250,000; and N100,000 to the remaining 17 teams from the different tertiary institutions that contested.

Imoke was quoted in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online as saying that this is a very historic moment for the state and a proof that there is hope for Nigeria.

“… These young talents have shown us that with little encouragement and the right mentoring we can rule the world,” he said.

Governor Imoke also, announced that the competition will be hosted again by the Cross River State government in 2012 at Tinapa, Calabar but this time it will include secondary schools.

President of ISPON, Chief Chris Uwaje, noted that no nation could succeed in the new 21st century economy without a framework for constructive investment, incubation, development and mastery of its indigenous software knowledge base.

Chairman, Panel of Judges, Mr. Pius Okigbo declared that after almost 10 hours of deliberations, the judges were unanimous in their opinion that the contestants had far exceeded their expectations by presenting exciting, very well thought-out innovations in concept, design and code execution.

With the teams separated largely by fractions of a point, he said all the contestants were winners, but of course, someone has to emerge as star prize.

“You are all winners and we are proud of you, and Nigeria needs to know what it has stored up in its youth,” he declared.

The Abia Poly team of three was led by Ifeanyi Anyadike. Other members of the team were Ifeanyichukwu Enyika and Anslem Nkoro.

“This is a big boost to our ambition and career objectives. We are more than ever convinced now that it pays to be focused and hardworking. We remain grateful to ISPON and the governor of Cross River State for this opportunity given to us to showcase our skills and talents,” they said.

Apart from the cash prizes, trophies, and certificates, the top three teams will under mentoring, incubation and venture capital readiness training and a high level meeting with the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, at a later date in Abuja.

This event was part of the two-day ISPON Software National Conference and Competition.

The Conference was attended by a capacity of more than 750 participants made up of government officials, academia, IT Professionals, captains of the software industry, students and gentlemen of the press.

The Governor hosted ISPON, Minister of National Planning Commission, Alhaji Shamsudeen Usman and the honourable Minister of Information, Labaran Maku to a dignified State Dinner, where both Ministers agreed on and endorsed the programme of ISPON on Imperatives for a National Framework for Software Strategy & Development.

The competition was organized by the Institute of Software Practitioner of Nigeria (ISPON) and hosted by the Cross River State Government. The sponsors were NITDA, NIGCOMSAT, 21st Century, Zinox, MTN, Huawei, NCS, NCC, CPN, ATCON and ITAN.

Remmy Nweke

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