By Chinenye Anuforo
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), through its subsidiary, the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has opened applications for the 2022 Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) hackathon. The IFF Project is supported by Ford Foundation office for West Africa.
The IFF hackathon is aimed at developing indigenous solutions to curb illicit financial flows in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), check illegal transfer/movement of funds within Nigeria and across international borders, and ensure effective monitoring of procurement processes.
This hackathon will also provide young Nigerians the opportunity to contribute their creativity and entrepreneurial skills by leveraging emerging technologies to combat corruption and other unethical practices impacting negatively on the socio-economic fortunes of the nation.
These talented Nigerians will be tasked to come up with clearly-defined ideas and prototype solutions to checkmate IFFS with emphasis on leveraging emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud, big data, blockchain, quantum computing, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR), among many others.
The two-day event scheduled to hold on September 1 and 2, 2022, will open with a bootcamp at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), Abuja while a Demo Day will take place at ICPC Auditorium, Abuja on the second day and final day.
Therefore, ONDI is calling for applications from eligible individuals/groups with an innovative ideas and prototypes that would leverage emerging technologies to help address the menace of IFFs within the nation’s expanding digital economy.
ONDI is a subsidiary of NITDA, created to ensure the promotion, growth, and protection of Nigerian digital innovation ecosystem for the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy. The Office has responsibility to facilitate the growth of the Nigerian digital economy through the creation of innovation-driven enterprises that will promote job creation and the proliferation of market-creating innovations to create more prosperity for Nigeria.