Kenneth Afor with agency report
In renewing its commitment to provide payment solutions in a technology-driven economy both local and international, SystemSpecs, Nigeria’s leading software payment platform and software development outfit, has selected some groups of students in secondary schools for an intensive two weeks coding camp in Lagos and Abuja, tagged: Remmita Summer Coding Camp.
The coding camp, an initiative by the company to produce young Nigerians in the area of software programming and app development and other related skills, will enable the students to be competitive as technology demands arise.
Akor Akpenyi, corporate responsibility coordinator, SystemSpecs, hinted that the coding programme will help prepare the students to provide solutions for the country’s technological challenges.
Akpenyi said, “Today, we are engaging the secondary school students. Tomorrow, we may decide to engage the university students in order to build capacity and transfer knowledge through the application of technology with respect to artificial intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things, animation, building games, 3D printing along with some other interesting training.”
She added, “The knowledge gained from the training exercise would later transform to become major vocations that the students would lean-on to become value-adding professionals in the next couple of years. Our intention is to develop the ability of these students for the nation.”
Deremi Atanda, executive director, SystemSpecs, reiterated that the coding camp will help raise the confidence of the students to face the challenges of an ever-changing environment.
She said, “We are complementing what the government is doing. If one of the fundamental responsibilities of the government is being challenged, we cannot complain. We must look at what we can do to complement the government’s efforts. That’s education on a general level.
“At SystemSpecs, we are more interested in national competitiveness that rides on the back of the knowledge economy and knowledge economy thrives on the back of effective technology skills. That is what is driving our involvement in the summer camp, which is not a short-term plan but a long term plan. This is how SystemSpecs is contributing to national development, particularly in the area of education.”
Atanda added, “It’s time for us to start planning for long-term development as a nation where young people can build capacity and skills to support local businesses. It may be too late to get the attention of students who are already in tertiary institutions because their minds are already made.”
SystemSpecs is the brain behind Remita, the company adopted by the Federal Government that handles the country’s payment services across all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the regime of the government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA), which started in 2015.
