Kwara Graduates 3MTT Cohort 2, Splashes Cash on Young Techies

Kwara State Government’s 3 Million Technical Talents (3MTT) initiative at the weekend organized a graduation and hackathon session for the 3MTT Cohort 2, with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq saying that the agenda is to promote digital literacy, innovation and economic growth in the state.

The programme is an initiative of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy. 

Kwara was among the first states to key into it by launching an intensive registration and sensitization drive across the 16 local government areas of the state. It had produced the first set of graduates under 3MTT cohort 1.

It was organized by the office of the Special Assistant to the Governor on Digital Innovations, Hon. Kayode Ishola, and with the theme ‘Driving Tech Innovation in Kwara’.

Top attendees included the state Commissioner for Planning and Economic Development, Hon Aliyu Kora Sabi; Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Sa’adatu Moddibo Kawu, represented by Mallam Abdulrasaq Oloru; SA on Digital Innovations Kayode Ishola; and Community Manager for 3MTT Cohort, Ibrahim Zulkifli.

The programme featured various segments such as panel discussion, raffle game for tech creatives and hackathon product demo.

The winner of the hackathon went home with N500,000, while the first and second runners up got N200,000 and N100,000 cash rewards respectively.

The panelists were Prof. Oluwakemi Christiana Abikoye, a lecturer, Department of Computer Science, University of Ilorin; Dr. Abdulrauf Uthman, Dean, Faculty of Computer Science and IT, Al-Hikmah University; and Executive Director, TruORGANIC Initiative, Mr. Olaide Olawuwo, among others.

Aliyu, in his remarks, said the digital driven initiative will create employment opportunities for the youth, check insecurity, enhance efficiency in civil service, and curb corruption within the system.  

“This type of innovation is commendable, and I think it should be adopted in our local government areas and in our political system. I hope our youth will leverage this opportunity in the tech world to learn and make a good impact,” the commissioner said.

Ishola, in his introductory remarks, said the state government provided laptops for deserving tech talents across learning centres to ease and support learning, and launched Kwara Digital Economy Portal to connect them to more opportunities. 

He commended the governor for his administration’s commitment to digital transformation, and how he is setting the pace in the tech industry. 

“Today marks yet another significant milestone in our journey towards positioning Kwara State as a leading hub for technological innovation and excellence,” he said.

“I thank Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, our visionary leader, for his unwavering commitment to youth empowerment, and passion for driving innovation that has laid the foundation for the strides we are celebrating today. 

“Under His Excellency’s guidance, Kwara State is steadily becoming a beacon of digital transformation and a model for other states to emulate. For context, Kwara State is the only state that held an elaborate graduation programme and Hackathon for graduating fellows of cohort 1.”

Dr Habeeb Salahudeen, Chief Technology Officer, ALVEUM and one of the keynote speakers, described the programme as a wake-up call for all relevant stakeholders on the need to see innovation as not just about technology but about people, partnerships and purposes.

Salahudeen, who spoke on a topic, ‘Shaping the Future: Using Tech for Sustainable Innovation in Kwara’, urged the policymakers and other government officials to continue to champion policies that enable 

groundbreaking projects and sustain the movement of building 21st century generation in technological and innovative solutions.