By Faith Igbudu
Residents of Benue state have been advised to support the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the state as it is the bedrock of any form of education.
This advice was given by the Chairman, National Computer Society (NCS), Benue state chapter, Dr Simon Yange as the association held ‘Benue Computer Quiz Award Ceremony 2021’, where prizes were presented to the winners of computer quiz it organised for secondary schools in Makurdi.
He said: “ICT is a profession that everybody has a stake in. For us, we feel that if everybody will join us in promoting this course, we will not have issues. If you donate anything, you have succeeded in promoting ICT development in Benue state which is what we have been championing. For instance, the quiz we have organized here is part of the efforts. Our aim is to see how we can get the younger ones to embrace ICT.
“Some have seen what ICT is doing in other parts of the country but investing into it has been a problem. Some feel investing in ICT is waste of money even those who are making a living from it. Sometimes you need to go all out soliciting for funds from those who are not in the profession and it is very challenging.”
Yange, who is a lecturer at Joseph Tarka University (JOSTUM) further explained that the essence of the quiz was to acquaint students with the rudiments of the national quiz competition, adding that the state competition will hold yearly.
“Usually we have whiz kids competition organised by our national body, opened to all secondary school students in the country. We discovered that our own students from the state have not being performing good, so we decided to organise this and give them a feel of what goes on there so that when they get there, they will do better,” he stated.
Presenting the awards, Benue state gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who is also the immediate past Chief Press Secretary (CPC) to Benue state Governor, Terver Akase, promised that his organisation will partner with the association to further expand the knowledge base of the three winners of the competition at a Benue computer centre called Greg & Co.
Represented by his Director of Media, Nathaniel Nongu, Akase said ICT development is one of the visions he has for the state.
He said: “I am happy to identify with what NCS is doing because It is part of my vision for the state as regards empowering young people. I want to see how the abundant opportunities in ICT can be explored to give young people opportunity to contribute to rising digital economy that every part of the world is keying into.”
The winners of the quiz competition were; Emmanuel Ikebudu for 1st position; Divine Ohagwu for 2nd position; and John Caleb for 3rd position.
All winners were presented with laptops sponsored by former Minister of Justice, and gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mike Aondakaa (SAN) and Benue computer hub, Greg & Co.
