Nigerian youth top UN programming for integrity competition

Nigerian youths have topped contemporaries from Egypt, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa, in a month-long hackathon, launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The hackathon, launched in a bid to help countries foster youth innovation and employing new technologies in the fight against corruption, has received more than 1700 entries from Nigerian youths.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, the UNODC office said that the codefest tagged ‘Coding4Integrity’, is one of the ways UNODC was actively working to promote the development of sustainable ICT-based anti-corruption solutions.

It said that the event also ultimately aimed at advancing the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

“Over 1700 applications were received from Nigeria – the largest number of entries across all of the five countries participating in the anti-corruption hackathon.

“Twenty teams (out of the 1700) were selected to participate in the initial round of the Hackathon. Of the 20 teams, nine teams have advanced to the 2nd phase of the hackathon to pitch their ideas with a group of local and international jurors,” it said.

Quoting Lanre Olaniyan, a representative of SoftStructures, one of the event’s sponsors, the hackathon will help bridge the digital divide that currently plagues technological development in Nigeria and Africa at large.

“The hackathon provides young and daring developers/software engineers’ opportunities to display their skills, logical thinking, and technology-based approach to contemporary issues affecting humanity.

“It allows the participants to display their talents to other enthusiasts and industry players who may help them develop their skills or the solutions proposed from the hackathon to unprecedented levels.

“For the 2021 event, we are committed to our promise of One million naira (N1,000,000) to top winners and internship opportunities for the top three winners,” he said.

Speaking on the importance of the hackathon, Kwarsen Titus of the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovations, said that it would lead many African countries to establish e-government services.

He observed that such services would allow the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to connect government functions and procedures, thereby increasing efficiency, accountability and transparency.

Coding4integrity hackathon will be the third justice related hackathon Nigerian youths are participating in with support from UNODC since 2019.