Students of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State in South-West Nigeria, have emerged winners of the first-ever hackathon (Code4Privacy) in the Data Protection and Privacy ecosystem.
The hackathon organised by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) in collaboration with Nigeria Computer Society, ISACA Abuja Chapter and Innov8 Tech Hub Abuja was aimed at exploring the use and fostering indigenous solutions for the implementation of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA).
The results of the hackathon were disclosed at the anniversary dinner and awards night of NDPC.
The Hackathon, themed “integrating Data Privacy by Design”, which was held on Friday in Abuja as part of the activities to mark the National Data Privacy Week celebrated from January 28 to February 4, was targeted at students from higher institutions of learning.
Three teams emerged namely; Nile University students, Team Cognito, University of Abuja students, Team Liitee and University of Ibadan students, Team Privalon.
Each of the teams presented pitches on how their solutions could address the need of NDPA implementation.
Team Privalon presented a solution `ChainVote’ which is meant to address the challenges of identity management and discrepancies in the voting system.
Team Privalon won the hackathon with a prize award of N750,000, Nile University students came second with N500,000 cash award and University of Abuja students third with N250,000.
Also Read: Nigeria holds first data protection hackathon
The Team Lead for Privalon,Mr Halleluyah Oludele, said they were motivated on working on the solution and were delighted for winning.
Oludele commended the Federal Government, saying that youths in the country were highly skilled and had the capacity to proffer ideas on national issues.
He added that their solution could be applied in any sector which could help in decentralising data for easy service delivery.
The students who were offered free membership into ISACA, Abuja chapter would receive mentorship on how to develop further their ideas.
Signed on June 12, 2023, by former President Bola Tinubu, the NDPA2023 established the powers of the commission in ensuring compliance of organisations, protection of citizens data to avoid breaches, among other concerns.
The Data Privacy Week 2024 also featured the release of the commission’s annual report of 2023 and the prize giving to the teams that participated in the hackathon.
Other activities were News conference, webinar on data protection achievements in some African countries, policy dialogue, visitation to schools to create awareness on data Privacy and protection.
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