Nigeria Hosts the First African Student and YP Congress
Nigeria takes the lead to host the first IEEE African Student and Young Professional Congress (ASYPC 2017). IEEE PES Workshop on renewable energy was held in this large event. The congress was held during 8 –10 September, 2017 at Baze University in the beautiful city of Abuja. With the full support from the IEEE Region 8 and IEEE Nigeria Section, it turned out a huge success.
There were 102 IEEE members and 20 invited guests and plenary/keynote speakers were the Nigeria Minister of Communication Technology, Barr. Adebayo Shittu and the IEEE MGA Vice President Elect, Martin Bastiaans. There were 6 workshops and 1 panel discussion. Other activities during the memorable 3 days include: a city tour, visit to Lower Usman Dam, Katempe Hill (Center of Nigeria), and Nike Art Gallery where delegates were welcomed in the African fashion and they had the opportunity to inspect artefacts and take memorable photos.
The IEEE PES Workshop on renewable energy was facilitated by Engr. Tunde Salihu from Nigeria, Continuous Education by Rading Reinhardt (Kenya), IEEE SIGHT by Engr. John Funso Adebayo (Nigeria), TISP and EPICS by Assoc. Prof. Tamer Moneir Mousa Nassef (Egypt). The Strategy of Work was done by Mr. Olabode Ojo, the Director of Engineering of Phase3 Telecom (Nigeria) while the workshops for Entrepreneurship and YP were facilitated by Mohammed El-Dallal (Egypt). A presentation on “Getting Ready for the Digital Economy” was made by John Matogo, the IBM University Leader for East Africa. The WIE panel session featured 5 panellists that discussed extensively on “Women in Africa: Challenges and Successes”. The panellists include Prof. Gloria Chukuwdebe, Dr. Amina Batagarawa, Lebogang MM Madise, Patience Enahoro and Engr. Mrs. Chidimma Ibeh-Dimnwobi. The discussion was moderated by Toyin Oluwaniyi, Co-founder of Edu-teen foundation.
A poster session was held with seven student branches contesting. Ten judges inspected their works and University of Ibadan, STB28371 was announced as the winner while the first runner up was Obafemi Awolowo University, STB89601. Prizes for the poster session were sponsored by Smile Telecom.
The attendees of the ASYP Congress cut cross the following countries; Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, and the Netherlands. It was a dream come true for the organizer, the Nigeria Section, Region 8 and MGA. The team led by the YP Chair of IEEE Nigeria Section, Engr. Abdullateef Aliyu and seven other members comprised of experienced and new volunteers. We hope this is the beginning of a new era in IEEE activities in Africa. We are very grateful to our sponsors: Prof Mamman Tahir, the Vice-Chancellor of Baze University, Phase3 Telecom, Smile, Ntel, GreenICTi, IAS, IEEE PES, IEEE Nigeria Section, Ad-hoc Committee on Activities in Africa (AHCAA), Young Professional AG, WIE, IEEE SIGHT and IEEE- EAB.
Abdullateef Aliyu, YP Chair – IEEE Nigeria Section