1 Year 11 months: From Zaranda to Olumo Rock - A Journey of Diversity, Collaboration, and Self-Growth

I?believe?that?the?joy?of?anything?we?do?is?found?in?the?journey?rather?than?the?destination.?I?began?my?journey?to?serve?the?great?NACOSite?for 23?months,?and?I?was?blessed?with?a?family?of?intellectuals?led?by? Olamilekan Abolade . With?over?250,000?registered?students, the? Nigeria Association of Computing Students (NACOS National) ?is?the?most?organized?student?body?in?West?Africa-April?2012.

Starting with the National Executive Council led by Olamilekan Abolade to members of the association, the association is filled with people of diverse cultures, experiences, and backgrounds. Working and managing people with diverse backgrounds came automatically with the job. The administration, under the leadership of Olamilekan Abolade , restructured the association and focused on providing maximum impact to members through skill acquisition (via bootcamp, webinar, and conference) and start-up creation (via Hackathon).

Working with Olamilekan Abolade exposed me to the importance of consultation, constantly learning from our environment, and having a single voice as a team. Collaboratively, the team has pulled off over 5+ partnerships and collaborative deals with technological companies.

Earlier in the administration, we organised a "Youth Employability Summit" led by Ruth Samuel with over 250 students at the Nile University of Nigeria. Let me take this opportunity to appreciate the Nile University of Nigeria for its support of the NACOS over the years. Similarly, we held the largest NACOS National Software and Exhibition Summit, which included a Hackathon in collaboration with the Financial Services Innovators (FSI), with 300+ participants who learned about innovation and built solutions for the Nigerian and African markets. This summit included top dignitaries such as the DG of NITDA, the SSA to the President of ICT, and the NCS President, among others, with 10 teams backing over 3.5 million Naira. Thank you, Olamilekan Abolade for giving me, Abdulmalik Ango and Agbo Faruq Rabo the opportunity to manage the event along with our colleagues.

Other notable events we had were the virtual bootcamps with Oracle Academy and Microsoft Africa Development Center, which saw over 300 students learn about Oracle APEX and data structures and algorithms with the respective organizations.

The administration’s last project was our convention with the theme "Disruptive Innovation for Technology Advancement (DITA '22)." An important part of the conference was the FSI Hackathon, with nine teams pitching their ideas for real-life problems in the suburban and rural parts of Nigeria. 74 teams from 28 states spread over the six geo-political zones of Nigeria registered for the hackathon, with solutions speaking largely to the informal sector players in the transportation, agricultural, health, trade and commerce, and energy sectors of the economy. Overall, we spent an amazing time learning, innovating, building solutions, and connecting. We also spent a day post-DITA '22 touring the ancient city of Abeokuta, particularly Olumo Rock.

Thank you, Adesina Sodiya , Aituaz Kola-Oladejo, FCCA , Adekunle Durosinmi , Bekere Amassoma , Abdulmalik Ango for a quality working relationship.

One NACOS, One 9ja.

Long live Nigeria, and long live NACOS.