LAGOS State Senior Model College, Kanko Badagry and Whitesands School, Lekki on Thursday emerged winners at the maiden edition of the ‘Code Lagos’ competition in the senior and junior categories respectively.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the preliminary stage of the competition commenced on Monday with 339 schools from the six educational districts of Lagos.

‘Code Lagos’ is a programming training initiated by the Lagos State Ministry of Education, implemented by the office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education.

Speaking at the close of the competition, the Special Adviser, Mr Obafela Bank-Olemoh said Code Lagos aimed at training 1,000,000 Lagos residents on programming.

“The governor gave us the mandate to ensure that Lagos residents are prepared for the world of technology.

“This is the largest initiative in Africa where thousands of people are being taught how to code.

“With this competition and the participation of the students, we are very happy with what we have achieved so far.

“It shows that the future of Lagos, to be technologically driven, is guaranteed,’’ Bank-Olemoh said.

Participants at the competition expressed gratitude to the state government for the initiative that had greatly inspired them to learn.

Afolabi Williams, a participant from Whitesand School Lekki, said he was filled with joy for his school to have won the competition.

“Our winning today was as a result of hard work and the commitment of our facilitators.

“There’s no success without hard work and with this drive, I hope to be a successful programmer in the future,’’ he said.

Kenneth Osas from the Lagos State Senior Model College, Kanko, said, “Code Lagos has opened my eyes to new possibilities in the computer world by using coding to improve the nation technologically.”

Another beneficiary, Adebowale Oluwatobi from Gbagada Comprehensive High School, attested that the training helped him discover his talent in programming by creating animations and video games.

Mr Fadahunsi Olushina, Principal, Lagos State Senior Model College, Kanko, urged Nigerian youths to take advantage of the initiative to learn the skills that would improve their lives and the nation.

Mr Dipo Olagbegi, the CEO of the Delphi Technologies and Training partner at Code Lagos said he was impressed with the performance of the students.

“The performance of the students today made me realise that the future of Nigeria is secure.

“I believe that in the next six years, these children would be doing exploits globally.

“If we can work with the Federal Ministry of Education, by taking this initiative to the national level, the future of Nigeria in technology would be solid,’’ Olagbegi said.

Mr Matthew Omotosho, the ICT teacher at the Whitesand College, said he was delighted that the extra hours put in teaching the students were not in vain.

“In spite of the tight academic calendar, we fixed extra hours for practice and I’m glad our efforts were not in vain.

“There are other children out there, who have the passion for computers, it is our duty to train them to build the technology needed for the advancement of the nation,’’ he said.

Mrs Lola Adegbite, the Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary, Education District IV lauded the state government for the initiative.

“Code Lagos has come to stay and the students have gained more knowledge from this project.

“Since it started in 2017, it has been fantastic and the students’ participation is increasing.

“As it continues, I believe it is going to spread across all schools in Lagos state.

“We need more hands to drive this initiative, especially through the donation of computers to facilitate learning across all schools,’’ she said.

NAN reports that the prizes won were Laptops, tablets, phones, plagues and cash prizes ranging from N25,000 to N50,000.

– Jun. 29, 2018 @ 11:19 GMT |