ABU students win three Huawei ICT awards

Students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, have won three prestigious awards at the 10th Huawei ICT Competition Global Finals held in Shenzhen, China, defeating teams from 40 countries to emerge among the world’s best in cloud computing, artificial intelligence and innovation.

The students clinched the grand prize in the AI/Innovation category with their project, ParaVision, secured first position in the Cloud track and came second in the Computing category.

They also received the coveted Women in Tech Award alongside the Nigeria Network Team during the competition’s award ceremony held on June 5, 2026.

The global finals, which took place between June 2 and June 5, attracted 177 teams from across the world in network, cloud, computing and AI/innovation tracks.

A statement issued by the Public Affairs Directorate of Ahmadu Bello University on Monday said the achievement underscored the institution’s growing reputation in technology, innovation and digital skills development.

The statement noted that the Huawei ICT Competition began in October 2025 with over 220,000 students participating worldwide before progressing through national and regional stages.

According to the university, the students qualified for the global finals after emerging successful at the national finals in December 2025 and the Southern Africa regional finals in March 2026.

The statement read, “At the award ceremony in Shenzhen, China, after the global finals, the students received two grand prizes – first position in Cloud and second position in Computing.”

It added that TeamABU2026 recorded another major success by winning the grand prize in the AI/Innovation category with its project, ParaVision.

Describing the innovation, the university said, “ParaVision is an AI-powered solution using the Orange Pi AIPro built around the Huawei Ascend 310B4 chip.

The institution explained that the technology was designed to conduct tests either simultaneously or independently and generate printed laboratory reports in less than three minutes.

“It also has a multilingual interface supporting French, Arabic, Chinese, Swahili and other languages,” the statement added.

The university further disclosed that the network, cloud and computing finals involved an intensive eight-hour laboratory challenge requiring contestants to solve real-world technological problems.

It noted that the AI/Innovation category, regarded as the highlight of the competition, tasked participants with designing and developing artificial intelligence-based solutions using Huawei technologies.

The victorious students are Kumba-Banna Tekanyi of Computer Engineering, Yakubu Musa Yakubu of Computer Science, Adekunle Abdulroqeeb Oladimeji of Electrical Engineering and Wakili Sefiu Bolaji of Computer Engineering.

Others are Yunus Muhammad and Ruqayyah Hassan Labo of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, as well as Khadija Khalid and Grace Temitayo Olorunfemi of Computer Engineering.

The students were mentored by Dr Bashir Halliru Sani of the Institute of Agriculture and Information and Communication Technology and Dr Zaharaddeen Haruna of the Department of Computer Engineering.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Adamu Ahmed, attended the event alongside the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof Raymond Bako.

Also present were the Director of the Distance Learning Centre, Prof Muhammed Bashir Mu’azu, and the Director of the Institute of Agriculture and Information and Communication Technology, Prof Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun.