Gombe govt, Onyx group partner to boost investment through ICT
Onyx Investment Advisory Ltd. has, in partnership with Gombe State government, organised a competition to harness the potential of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector to woo investors to the state.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Gombe, on Wednesday, shortly after the opening ceremony of the two-day event, Mrs Aisha Bako, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Onyx group, said Gombe State had huge untapped potential in the ICT sector.
Bako said the event was, therefore, organised to engage youths knowledgeable in technology, to proffer technology-based solutions to the challenges facing the state and Nigeria.
She stated that part of the discovery made during the 2022 Gombe investment summit was that youths in the state had the potential to provide information-technology-based solutions to the challenges facing the country.
According to her, there are huge talents and skills that have been discovered, hence, “we find it necessary to organise an event that will provide solutions, and that triggered Hackathon Gombe 1.0.”
Bako, who is also a private sector development consultant working with Gombe State government, said no fewer than 50 youths drawn from the state and other states in country were participating in the event.
“The event is a Hackathon where you take young people who have knowledge in technology and understand coding and how to use technology to develop things.
“This event brings these people together to help proffer technology-based solutions to problems.
“They are developing technology-based solution and the topic for the event is, ‘Sustainable environment and sustainable solutions for Gombe State.’
“Whatever will come out of the event is a tech-based solution that can be used to take care of sustainability for Gombe and Nigeria,” she said.
She stated that Gombe Investment summit 2022 prioritised the ICT sector, after a sector scan was carried out.
According to her, the scan showed 46 possible sectors where Gombe State has comparative advantage to attract investors.
“Out of that 46 sectors, we carried out filters that will show how Gombe State is a priority and better for investors to come and invest.
“Those filters gave us five sectors and ICT is one of them and that is why we are here today, to show investors that Gombe leads in human capital for ICT and innovation.
“This brought the idea of Hackathon, which feeds into the investment summit, showing the solutions that could come out of young minds who are in the tech space.
“This will help technology-based investors to start paying attention to Gombe and seeing that they can develop commercial solutions in partnership with young people in Gombe State,” said Bako.
Mr Bala Modi, an associate professor in Computer Network Security from Gombe State University, commended the organisers of the event for creating a platform to build digital skills amongst youths.
Modi said the platform was an opportunity to prepare the youth for the future, adding that digital skills had become the driving force of major economies globally.
He urged the youth to leverage technology to provide solutions to the challenges of the country.
The don further urged government at all levels to invest more in digital skills as a viable tool to diversify the country’s economy and boost Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the winner of the competition will get N1.8 million and the first runner-up N1.4 million, while the second runner-up gets N900, 000.