Students of Godfrey Okoye University (GOUNI) Enugu, on have won N6 million Bluecode Hackathon competition organised by Bluecode Africa.
Speaking during the prize award ceremony on Thursday, Mr Davidson Regha, the Managing Director, Bluecode Nigeria, said the competition was to enable young people build competencies to develop technology solutions.
It is eports that the competition is designed to create alternative digital payment solutions for Nigerians.
It is also reports that Bluecode is a payment platform designed for retail merchants and micro enterprises.
it establishes seamless interoperability among various financial institutions, operating domestically based on local rules.
The system also accommodates international payments independently of plastic card industry standards.
The students were grouped into 19 teams with the best teams winning the the first prize of Three million naira.
The teams that emerged second and third received the prizes of Two million and One million naira respectively.
All the teams were rewarded for their creativity and innovation in creating digital payment solutions.
Regha said that Bluecode business was payment using technology, adding that they were seeking a way whereby youths in Nigeria can develop tech ideas and solutions of creating alternative digital payment for Nigerians.
“We are financial technology company, we want to encourage young people because we believe they are the future of tech in Nigeria.
“Mobile payment is the future of Nigeria payment and we are at GOUNI to develop a solution that will be used for payments in future, ” he said.
He said the organization wanted to see how the students could develop an in-house digital app for the micro finance bank used by the school and others in Nigeria.
The managing director added that with the successes recorded at GOUNI, the gesture would be extended to other universities in Nigeria.
Also speaking, Mr Odin Krisymayr, the Managing Director, Bluecode Africa, explained that the competition was to introduce what they do in other countries to Nigeria.
“GOUNI students have proved it can be done locally and this is our ultimate goal to build a local payment infrastructure that is complete independent of foreign influences.
“Bluecode originated in another country. This is my home now I think it should have a lowprint infrastructure build by Nigerians for Nigeria, ” he said.
The Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said the people of the state understood the value of technology.
According to him, the state spent a lot of time and energy changing processes within the Enugu State Government through e-governance module to ensure transparency, traceability and accountability
“We integrate e-governance system so that we track people for accountability; so, you don’t sit on people’s files.
“We also have microsoft dynamics that we use for our payment approval and financial processes,” Onyia said.
Congratulating the winners, Onyia said: “The prize you won is not the ultimate goal but rendering services. So don’t put money at first.”
In a welcome address, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Sergius Udeh, said GOUNI through its Department of Computer Science was pioneering a new thinking in technological advancement.
This, he said, was based on its object-oriented programming paradigm leading to use of case diagrams in
addressing real life problems.
“The adoption of this approach in students’ project writing marks a new point in application of technology in solving existing local problems in our environment.
“Establishment of a computer village by the GOUNI is another giant stride by the university in developing efficient software projects at a cost different from what obtains in the industry,” Udeh said.
Earlier, the Director of Competitions, GOUNI, Mrs Uchanta Chukwu, commended Bluecode for nurturing the next generation of tech leaders across the globe.
She commended the participated students for their hardwork, resilience, and creativity throughout the competition.
Speaking on behalf of the student that won the competition, Emeka Owen expressed joy and happiness.
“It took us a lot of efforts and research to develop the payment app that was adjudged the best, ” Owen said.