The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have teamed up with other stakeholders to identify and improve the capacity and skill of West African youth to protect the region’s cyberspace. According to the ECOWAS Commission President, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, the partnership become imperative considering the urgent need to protect the region’s cyberspace from the activities of cybercriminals.
Dr Touray said: “The Hackathon challenge provides a platform for talent identification and support for young individuals interested in new technology.
“By enhancing the cyber workforce, we contribute to the region’s stability and security. In an age where cyber threats are constantly evolving, it is crucial to stay ahead of the curve.”
Touray who was represented by the Commissioner for Infrastructure Energy and Digitalisation at the ECOWAS Commission, Ambassador Sediko Douka, said it was important to bring to the youth in the sub-region adequate information and knowledge about the latest developments in Cybersecurity challenges and techniques.
The ECOWAS Chief made the remarks during the closing ceremony of a two-day 3rd ECOWAS Regional Cybersecurity Hackathon Challenge 2024, organised by the ECOWAS Commission and NITDA in Abuja.
“By participating in this competition, I am sure you have enhanced your understanding of the latest cybersecurity challenges and techniques. You have also gained hands-on experience that will strengthen your skill set. You have also learned lessons which will allow you to perform better.”
“It is gratifying to note that the institution of the competition offers ECOWAS the opportunity to reaffirm its ambition to build a very resilient cyber space possible, thus contributing to the global effort to protect digital assets and privacy,” the ECOWAS President told the youth.
He said he was impressed with multiple awards to winners and participants to motivate them to deepen the Cybersecurity industry and protect digital infrastructure.
He told the gathering that there are new regulations at the level of the African Union and at ECOWAS regional level regarding Cybersecurity. He urged all countries to abide by these regulations and fundamentally implement them to protect critical institutions.
The ECOWAS boss said that apart from the awards that were given, there are training programmes that the young people would benefit from sponsored by the donors and partners.
The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, who was represented by the Director of IT Infrastructure Solutions, Oladejo Olawumi, said it was necessary for the region to use the competition to harness the talents of the young people to fight cybercrime.
Inuwa said NITDA would continue to support future events, stressing that “it is very interesting to know that there is healthy competition in this kind of technology sector. That is why we are trying to harness the beautiful energy of the youth to ensure that we fight cybercrime so they won’t have time to go into crime.”
He said ECOWAS, NITDA, governments, and people in the private sector as well as the academia collaborated to make the competition a success with the goal of tackling the menace of cybercrime in the sub-region.
The 3rd edition of the ECOWAS Regional Security Hackathon, in Abuja was preceded by the first in Benin Republic and the second one in Togo. The competition had 12 countries from West Africa participating including Mauritania and cash awards and gift items were given to winners and participants.
The ERROR team from Nigeria emerged third and got a cash prize of $6000 with laptops for each member of the team. The M3V7R team from Benin Republic came second with a cash prize of $8,000 and laptops for its members, while the First Prize went to Shell X Roots from Cote d’ Ivoire with a cash prize of $10,000 and laptops for members of the group.
