The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has hosted a campus roadshow for the 11th Huawei ICT Competition 2026–2027, encouraging students to register for the global contest and explore career opportunities in emerging technologies.
The roadshow, held on Monday, October 19, 2026, at Rahmon Bello Hall, was organised in partnership with Huawei Technologies under the UNILAG–Huawei ICT Academy arrangement. The event took place during the ongoing registration period and attracted students from various faculties, academic staff and members of Huawei’s talent development team.
In his opening remarks, the Director of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Innovative and Transformative STEM Education (ABS-CITS), Prof. Hakeem Amuda, said the competition was designed to familiarise the university community with Huawei technologies and equip students with the capacity to understand, deploy and use them.
He noted that incentives could encourage learning and participation, adding that the competition offers opportunities for recognition, medals and career advancement. He therefore urged students to take advantage of the opportunity.
Prof. Amuda recalled that a UNILAG student, Peter Fagbola, emerged global champion in the previous edition and expressed confidence that the roadshow would inspire more students to participate in the 2026–2027 competition. He added that, although students had only recently resumed for the new academic session, the university could not afford to miss the opportunity because of the competition’s tight schedule.
Huawei’s Talent Development Ecosystem
Presenting an overview of Huawei’s operations and talent development initiatives, the team led by Mr. Knimi Musa, Talent Manager at Huawei, described the company as a leading provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices, emphasising that its operations extend far beyond smartphones.
Mr. Musa disclosed that Huawei employs approximately 213,000 people across more than 170 countries and regions, with 53.7 per cent of its workforce engaged in research and development and 63.8 per cent of employees outside China recruited locally. He explained that this local recruitment policy creates opportunities for qualified Nigerian graduates to build careers with the company.
He also outlined Huawei’s 360° Talent Ecosystem Model, a framework designed to develop talent to global industry standards. In Nigeria, he said, Huawei has established 233 ICT academies, trained more than 80,000 students and awarded over 8,200 Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA), Huawei Certified ICT Professional (HCIP) and Huawei Certified ICT Expert (HCIE) certifications.
Two ICT Academy Support Centres are already operational in Nigeria, he added, expressing hope that UNILAG would become one of the centres in the near future.
Mr. Musa further explained that Huawei collaborates with partner universities to align its enterprise-level course content with their curricula. The training covers artificial intelligence, cloud computing, networking, 5G and other emerging technologies, helping students acquire practical, industry-relevant skills.
Competition Structure and Opportunities
Mr. Musa described the Huawei ICT Competition as an annual global contest for university and college students. Themed “Connection, Glory, Future”, with the slogan “I.C. The Future”, the competition has attracted more than 1.18 million participants from over 2,000 universities in more than 100 countries and regions, including UNILAG.
Participants compete in four tracks: Network, Cloud, Computing and Innovation. According to the presentation, the competition progresses through preliminary, national, regional and global stages.
The preliminary stage consists of an individual online examination featuring 60 questions to be completed in one hour at the associate level. The national final, scheduled for November to December 2026, involves a two-hour online examination comprising 150 questions at the professional level.
The regional final, scheduled for February to April 2027, is a laboratory-based competition involving teams of three, while the Global Final is scheduled for May 2027 in China.
Mr. Musa noted that participants would have access to learning resources on Huawei’s platform, live online training, cloud resource vouchers, rewards for winners and opportunities to visit Huawei facilities in China.
He emphasised that the competition complements university curricula and helps students strengthen their technical competencies to meet global industry standards, while pursuing certifications at associate, professional and expert levels.
UNILAG’s Global Champion Shares His Experience
A highlight of the roadshow was the appearance of Peter Fagbola, a Systems Engineering student at UNILAG and participant in the ABS-CITS Huawei Academy, who won first prize at the previous competition’s Global Final in China.
Sharing his experience, Mr. Fagbola explained that he competed in the Artificial Intelligence track. At the regional stage, he undertook a four-hour laboratory examination during which he developed an artificial intelligence-based grades classifier from scratch using a bidirectional encoder architecture. He subsequently advanced to the global stage, where he participated in an eight-hour laboratory examination.
Reflecting on the experience, Mr. Fagbola said the competition had given him a clearer sense of direction and a stronger vision for his future. His achievement illustrated the professional opportunities the competition could create for participating students.
He was also assured of a place at Huawei upon completion of his National Youth Service, further highlighting the potential career benefits of participation.
Registration Opens Pathway to the 2027 Global Final
With registration scheduled to close at the end of November 2026, students were urged to register promptly through https://bit.ly/NIG20262027. Participation is free, and the competition begins with an online preliminary examination before progressing to the national, regional and global stages.The national final is scheduled for November to December 2026, the regional final for February to April 2027, and the Global Final for May 2027 in China.
The roadshow concluded with an appeal to students to build on UNILAG’s record of success and take advantage of the resources available through the university’s Huawei ICT Academy to prepare for the competition.
Fagbola’s achievement served as a compelling example of what UNILAG students can accomplish on the global stage, reinforcing the message that participation in the Huawei ICT Competition can open doors to advanced technical training, international recognition and promising technology careers
Report: Lynda Onah
Photograph: Dosunmu Olaifa
