By Halimah Olamide
Students of University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, have emerged winner of the maiden hackathon organised by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
The results of the hackathon were announced at the anniversary dinner and awards night of the NDPC in Abuja.
The hackathon, which took place on Friday, was part of the activities to mark the National Data Privacy Week celebrated between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4.
The hackathon is targeted at students with an aimed to finding indigenous solutions that can help in the implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA).
It was signed on June 12, 2023, by President Bola Tinubu, and the act established the powers of the commission to ensuring compliance of organisations, protection of citizens’ data to avoid breaches, among other concerns.
Hackathon began on Jan. 8 with over 100 applications from tertiary institutions across the country.
Three teams emerged, including Nile University students, Team Cognito, University of Abuja students, Team Liitee and UI students, Team Privalon.
Each of the teams during the hackathon on Friday presented their pitches on how their solutions could address the need of NDPA implementation.
Team Privalon presented a solution `ChainVote’, which was meant to address the challenges of identity management and discrepancies in the voting system.
Team Privalon eventually won the hackathon with a prize award of N750,000, while Nile University students came second with N500,000 cash award and University of Abuja students emerged third with N250,000.
Mr Halleluyah Oludele, Team Lead for Privalon, said they were motivated on working on the solution and were delighted at winning.
Not undermining the efforts of other teams, Oludele commended the federal government initiative, noting that youths in the country are highly skilled and have the capacity to proffer ideas on national issues.
He said their solution could be applied in any sector which could help in decentralising data for easy service delivery.
The Nigeria Computer Society, ISACA Abuja Chapter and Innov8 Tech Hub Abuja collaborated with NDPC to host the hackathon.
The students were offered free membership into ISACA, Abuja chapter, where they would receive mentorship on how to develop further their ideas.