President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo have emerged the Africa ICT Champions for the year 2022.
This was disclosed at the award announcement session coordinated by Founder and first Chairman of the Africa Information and Communication Technologies Alliance (AfICTA), Dr Jimson Olufuye, held at the end of its 10th summit held last week.
The duo of Buhari and Osinbajo were voted winners for engendering more than 18 percent ICT contributions to Nigeria’s GDP in 2022 and 40 percent overall ICT value chain contribution to the Nigerian economy.
They were represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, at the closing ceremony.
n his address as the Special Guest of Honour, Osinbajo, through Akande, appreciated AfICTA for the award bestowed on them and congratulated AfICTA on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, acknowledging the immeasurable growths AfICTA witnessed in the past 10 years (most importantly how AfICTA grew from a six-member nation alliance in 2012 (at its founding) to over 38 nations in Africa by 2022.
He also congratulated AfICTA on its advocacy for the realisation of the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa.
Others are the Minister of Information and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, and his Mauritius counterpart, Hon. Darsanand Balgobin, as the 2022 Africa ICT Personality Award winners; Head, Group Information Technology and Digital Banking, GTBank, Mr Sina Aiyegbusi, as the 2022 Africa CIO Award winner. The 2022 Innovation Award went to Mr. Eric Sindeu, the founder and CEO of KEMITEL Limited of Cameroon. The 2022 Africa Community Development Award went to Mr. Ahmed Ismael, the CEO, Siyafunda Community Technology Centre based in South Africa.
While congratulating the winners, the Chairman of AfICTA, Mr. Thabo Mashegoane, encouraged other participants who didn’t make it this year to keep participating in future contests.
The theme of the AfICTA 10th  anniversary summit was: ‘Africa Digital Future: Fostering a New Paradigm’. The summit witnessed several sessions geared towards fostering the digital agenda and the realisation of the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa.
Source: thisdaylive