The Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) has finalized arrangements to stage the First National Software Competition billed to take place in Calabar, Cross River State – in what perhaps, can be classified as the greatest IT-Quest and knowledge encounter of the year.

For the 18 months, ISPON National Executive Council had been busy laying the ground work for the Big-Event. Following extensive interactions with university students and the leadership of National Association of Computer Students (NACCOS), ISPON rolled out strategies for the establishment of Software Development Clubs in Nigerian Universities as a foundation for building the collaborative communities and connections to the larger stakeholder ecosystem that are pivotal to the emergence of a sustainable knowledge culture and capability for software development. At the last count, more than 32 Universities have either been registered or applied for registration. They include; University of Lagos, ABU College of Agriculture Kabba, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Adeyemi College of Education Ondo State, Anambra State University, Bells University Ota, Covenant University Ota, Delta State University, Federal College of Education Okene, Federal Polytechnic Idah, Federal University of Lokoja, Federal University of Technology Akure, The Polytechnic Ibadan, Ilorin Polytechnic, Kogi State Polytechnic, Kogi State University, Lagos City Polytechnic, Madonna University Okija, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Obafemi Awolowo University, Paul University Awka, Polytechnic of Sokoto, Salem University Lokoja, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomosho, Tai Solarin University of Education Ogun State, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Federal Polytechnic Mubi, IMFI ICT Academy, Federal University of Technology Yola, Lagos State University, University of Port Harcourt, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Uyo City Polytechnic, Rivers State Polytechnic Bori, Federal University of Technology Minna, Adekunle Ajasin University Ago-Iwoye, Lagos State Polytechnic, and Cross River State University of Technology.

The National Software Competition is informed by the strategic imperative to anchor Nigeria’s aspirations for global competitiveness in the Knowledge Economy on building capacity in knowledge industries such as software. With 60% of Nigeria’s population under 30 years of age, ISPON believes that the dream of Vision 20:2020 is realizable only by accelerated efforts to build and unlock the innovation capabilities of our youth, who have propelled Nigeria over just 4 years to becoming the 10th largest internet user base in the world (Internet World Stats at http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm, August 2011). In order to harness the breadth and depth of the youth population,

ISPON has declared the Competition open and released guidelines for the high profile National Software Competition for all Tertiary Institutions scheduled for October 28th, 2011. The competition will be held at the Tinapa Business Resort, Calabar, with the Cross River State Government as the Chief Host. The Competition is expected to attract an audience of over 1000 youths and will be supported by very formidable sponsorship endorsements from MTN, NITDA, Huawei, CPN, NCS, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and other corporate and institutional top Brands.

The National Software Competition aims to harness the potential skills of young and intelligent minds in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. The program is established to uncover Indigenous Software Development Talents and make them ready for entrepreneurship and global competitiveness in ICT. Entries to the competition are based on completed applications at a special website -www.softwareclubnigeria.org – where guidelines are available for download with online application forms processing. Apart from the fabulous prizes and awards already put in place for the winners of the competition, ISPON will facilitate their future participations in various Technology competitions for International Youth Awards at the United Nations level.

Developing a National Software Strategy is fundamental. This is because Software innovation represents the mainstream of emerging economies and future businesses. It’s activities are central to global trade and the generation of foreign currency. For development policy makers, and for entrepreneurs, it is hard to resist harnessing and expending software capacity to create massive employment with a critical focus to building an export industry.

There is an invisible Developers Valley out there! The Developers’ Valley is a conceptual model to enhance larger participation and convergence of emerging Software Developers by pooling them together and encouraging them to share knowledge and resources with each other and consequently address such vital issues as: “Development Process” “Procedure” “Standards” “Quality” “Documentation” and so on.

Lessons learned from Software development life-cycle and activity indicators have clearly demonstrated that the central battle ground for global competitiveness will be in National Software Strategy Domain. The critical mass of such strategic development policies and implementation will be focused on Mobile Technology Services, e-Government, e-Transactions, e-Business, e-education, e-entertainment and Cybersecurity amongst others. These and other 21st Century critical development issues present a great challenge and opportunity windows for the Africa Continent, where Nigeria represents a very important factor, Contestants have continued to surprise the judges with very important and creative solutions. The Judges are drawn from a pool of highly committed and very experienced Software Experts in and around the country.

As at the last update, the list of contestants include: University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Abia State Polytechnic Aba, Cross River University of Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Idah Yaba College of Technology, Delta State University Abraka, Federal Polytechnic Offa, University of Uyo, University of Calabar, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Uyo City Polytechnic, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Obafemi Awolowo University, Covenant University, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, and University of Benin