Nigeria takes the lead to host the first IEEE African Student and Young Professional Congress (ASYPC 2017). The IEEE Student and Young Professionals Congress was held in Africa for the first time after the final approval by Region 8 and the Ad-hoc Committee on Activities in Africa (AHCAA) in July, 2017.
The Team led by the YP Chair of IEEE Nigeria Section, Engr. Abdullateef Aliyu and seven other members comprised of experienced and new volunteers. Finances was a big challenge, but the team did not give up. With the full support of the Region 8 and IEEE Nigeria Section, ASYPC 2017 turned out a huge success.
The Congress was held from 8th – 10th September, 2017 at Baze University, in the beautiful city of Abuja, with 102 IEEE members and 20 invited guest in attendance. Amongst the ten plenary/keynote speakers were the Nigeria Minister of Communication Technology, Barr. Adebayo Shittu and the IEEE MGA Vice President Elect, Martin Bastiaans. There were 6 workshops and 1 panel discussion on Women in Africa: Success and Challenges. Other activities during the memorable 3 days include: a city tour, visit to Lower Usman Dam, Katempe Hill (Center of Nigeria), and Nike Art Gallery where delegates were welcomed in the African fashion and they had the opportunity to inspect artefacts and take memorable photos.
The IEEE PES Workshop on renewable energy was facilitated by Engr. Tunde Salihu (Nigeria), Continuous Education by Rading Reinhardt (Kenya), IEEE SIGHT by Engr. John Funso Adebayo (Nigeria), TISP and EPICS by Assoc. Prof. Tamer Moneir Mousa Nassef (Egypt). The Strategy of Work was done by Mr. Olabode Ojo, the Director of Engineering of Phase3 Telecom (Nigeria) while the workshops for Entrepreneurship and Young Professionals were facilitated by Mohammed El-Dallal (Egypt). A presentation on “Getting Ready for the Digital Economy” was made by John Matogo, the IBM University Leader for East Africa.
The WIE panel session featured 5 panellists that discussed extensively on “Women in Africa: Challenges and Successes”. The panellists include Prof. Gloria Chukuwdebe, Dr. Amina Batagarawa, Lebogang MM Madise, Patience Enahoro and Engr. Mrs. Chidimma Ibeh-Dimnwobi. The discussion was moderated by Toyin Oluwaniyi, Co-founder of Edu-teen foundation.
A poster session was held with seven student branches contesting. Ten judges inspected their works and University of Ibadan, STB28371 was announced as the winner while the first runner up was Obafemi Awolowo University, STB89601. Prizes for the poster session were sponsored by Smile Telecom.
The attendees of the ASYP Congress cut cross the following countries; Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Egypt, and the Netherlands. It was a dream come true for the organizer, the Nigeria section, Region 8 and MGA. We hope this is the beginning of a new era in IEEE activities in Africa. We are very grateful to our sponsors: Prof Mamman Tahir, the Vice-Chancellor of Baze University, Phase3 Telecom, Smile, Ntel, GreenICTi, IAS, IEEE PES, IEEE Nigeria Section, AHCAA, Young Professional AG, WIE, IEEE SIGHT and IEEE- EAB.
Abdullateef Aliyu, YP Chair – IEEE Nigeria Section