Telecom
Covid-19: Huawei ICT Academy Hosts Online Training for Students in Nigeria
Huawei Technologies has not relented on its efforts to ensure Nigerian students registered under its authorized information and network academy are trained in core ICT skills in the face of the Covid19 pandemic.
The company moved its classes online, engaging hundreds of students across the country on their computer screens from the comfort of their homes.
The Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) in collaboration with more than 70 universities in Nigeria was established to train students for free in the latest internationally relevant ICT skills in subjects such as Networks, Cloud Computing and Big Data. As at today, over 10,000 Nigerian students have benefitted.
In an exclusive interview with some of the teachers and students, we got insights into the structure of the Huawei ICT Academy online training program and its impact.
The Head of IT Technical Support Unit, Kastina State Institute of Technology and Management, Mr. Lawal Ahmad Alassan, who is also a Huawei Academy Instructor in Routing, Switching, Storage and Security said his first batch of online classes held from the 10th till the 15th of May 2020 and he had between 75 to 50 students from different educational institutions from all over Nigeria.
He said classes were split into 2 classes of 40 each. The training was structured for 3 hours daily with breaks in between. The entire course was broken down into 4-5 topics daily.
Speaking about his experience teaching the students online, he said “It was a wonderful experience coming from a virtual classroom organised by Huawei.
“The students were so overwhelmed and as we speak now we have over 250 students waiting to be trained and still making enquiries and application for training.
“To some of the students it was a new experience and they never thought they could achieve such training process while staying at home.”
Excited about the regular participation of the students, he said “the online training has made instructors and the students bother less about the lockdown because we have been made to acquire knowledge through Huawei’s training platform in the most incredible manner. With these trainings, the ICT industry in Nigeria would grow faster.”
“If our education sector could include virtual classes in our educational platform, it will go a long way in solving most of our educational challenges in Nigeria.
“On behalf of the students and myself and co-instructors, Huawei has made the stay at home caused by the covid-19 a blessing in disguise.” Mr. Lawal recommended.
Augustine, another Huawei Academy Instructor from the University of Port Harcourt, who teaches on Programming, Algorithms, Data Structures and Artificial Intelligence said he also held his classes from the 10th till the 15th of May 2020 with over 100 students from various location in Nigeria (Port Harcourt, Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Niger, Anambra, Delta, etc.) According to him, “the experience was very refreshing and the students were very eager to learn.”
“The student’s participation was encouraging as most of them were always early to join the meeting.
“They also participated during the practical sessions. The contents of the entire content of the Routing and Switching curriculum were cover with focus on key topics,” he added.
Speaking on the impact of the training on the students, Augustine said “the training would be very beneficial to the students and the society at large as it not only provides them with the needed experience to boost their career but also a source of inspiration to spawn new ideas in network development on creativity.”
A student participant, Ngei Mkpuru-mpio, said “The HCIA training was insightful and detailed though in a short time. It forms a foundation for my Huawei 5G career pursuit.”
Another student participant, Akpunonu Chidozie Joseph, said “Networking is one of my favourite courses and HCIA R&S has enlighten me more about IT and E-LEARNING, showing that everything is still possible without classroom despite the challenges of network and other things. It has added to my skill base and also enriched my CV.”
Let’s hear from this student participants too, Erewari Eke: “my learning experience in the HCIA Routing and switching class was educative and I was able to understand what the lecturer explained better than the actual written explanation in the pdf.
“I learnt how to navigate and manage Huawei products through the virtual routing platform, built efficient data switching environments through the management of switching products and manipulation of link layer protocols, I understood the principles of routing and configure RIP/OSPF routing protocols and many more. As a Computer Scientist, It will help me a lot as I progress in real life networking. Thanks a lot.”
Elele Gideon, a student participant said “I am so happy to have benefitted from these Huawei virtual classroom happening across the country. I learnt a lot on subjects such as IP Address, subnetting, Enterprise Network Design and Implementation.
“The program was resourceful and helped my understanding of technology irrespective of the duration. I look forward to more trainings like this. So grateful to Huawei for organizing this”
According to Kenneth Igwe, Huawei Channel Training Manager (ICT Talent Ecosystem Development) in Nigeria, “although we live in difficult time with the Covid19, Huawei will not relent in making knowledge available to students across the nation.
“Huawei plans to get 2000 Nigerian students certified in core technology courses during this pandemic period, through the online training and certification.”
“Through the online home training, our partners in the Academia are staying safe, and also improving students’ knowledge capacity.”
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Northern Nigeria to pivot urgently from traditional commerce to an innovation-driven digital economy for sustainable growth.
NITDA
Inuwa issued the call at the Future Map Foundation Roundtable 1.0 (North-West Edition) in Kano, attributing the region’s sluggish digital adoption not to talent deficits but to the lack of deliberate, coordinated strategies.
He stressed deeper collaboration across academia, private sector players, entrepreneurs, and government, positioning the private sector as the primary innovation engine while government supplies robust policies and an enabling ecosystem.
Inuwa advocated for people-focused, locally tailored innovations that tackle regional challenges head-on, enabling global competitiveness by transitioning from mere technology users to creators of homegrown solutions.
The roundtable convened policymakers, tech founders, and ecosystem stakeholders to forge a comprehensive roadmap for North-West digital transformation, yielding firm commitments to bolster regional innovation policies and public-private synergies.
Inuwa’s push dovetails seamlessly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which sets an ambitious target of 95 per cent nationwide digital literacy by 2030, fostering inclusive economic empowerment.
Participants hailed the forum as a pivotal step toward unlocking Northern Nigeria’s tech potential, with NITDA poised to lead implementation through strategic interventions and partnerships.
Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with “Galaxy AI” features largely powered by Google’s Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence heats up.
The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026.
“We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November.
The plan by the world’s largest backer of Google’s Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.
Samsung seeks to reclaim its lost crown from Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals not only in mobile telephones, but televisions and home appliances, all overseen by Roh.
It will offer integrated AI services across consumer products to widen its lead over Apple in such features, though the latter was set to be the top smartphone maker last year, according to market researcher Counterpoint.
AI Race
Alphabet’s Google launched the latest version of Gemini in November, highlighting Gemini 3’s lead on several popular industry measures of AI model performance.
In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red,” pausing non-core projects and redirecting teams to accelerate development. The ChatGPT maker launched its GPT-5.2 AI model a few weeks later.
Roh expects the adoption of AI to accelerate, as Samsung’s surveys on awareness of its Galaxy AI brand jumped to a level of 80% from about 30% in just one year.
“Even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now, within six months to a year, these technologies will become more widespread,” he said.
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