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Nigeria’s Young Innovators Showcase AI Solutions at 2025 NSE Orlu Hackathon
By Tosin Clegg
More than a hundred undergraduate students from across Imo State proved that Nigerian talent can deliver world-class innovation at the 2025 NSE Orlu Hybrid AI & Programming Hackathon. Conducted virtually from June 20–25, the high-energy, week-long contest challenged participants to design and implement AI-powered solutions addressing pressing national issues in agriculture, healthcare, governance, and employment—aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Themed “An Institutional Collaboration for Sustainable Development”, the hackathon brought together students from Imo State University, Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), and several other institutions. Teams were deliberately formed across school boundaries to encourage collaboration and shared problem-solving.
Strategic Leadership
The event was steered by Engr. Dr. Gerald Ibe Okwe, FNSE, who chaired the organizing committee and ensured alignment between the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Orlu Branch and participating schools. Dr. Elvin Ugonna Eziama, serving as STEM Coordinator, oversaw challenge design, technical infrastructure, and cross-institution planning. Over five days, student teams brainstormed, built, tested, and refined their prototypes under the mentorship of industry experts and academics.
Award-Winning Projects
AgroAI: Smarter Farming for Nigerian Communities
Top honors went to Team Mbari Builders for AgroAI, a precision agriculture platform delivering AI-generated recommendations—such as planting schedules and irrigation plans—in local languages. Judges Courage Oko-Odion and Sandra Onochie advised on integrating real-time satellite imagery with IoT sensor data, building 15 years of localized climate records into ensemble machine learning models, and improving explainability for end-users.
NaijaTruthCheck: Fighting Fake News
Team Owerri Coders developed NaijaTruthCheck, a multilingual fact-checking system for news and social media. Mentors Solomon Olumba, Jacob Alebiosu, Dominic Ogbuagu, and Emmanuel Olayinka Afolabi guided architectural redesign into microservices, stress-tested against AI-generated disinformation, and optimized sentiment analysis for WhatsApp-forwarded messages—achieving rapid detection of 90% of false content in trials.
NaijaCVRanker: Tackling Youth Unemployment
Team Umuaka Innovators launched NaijaCVRanker, an AI recruitment tool ranking CVs and providing targeted feedback. Judges JohnPaul Adimonyemma, Oladipupo Dopamu, and Joy Nma Anyanacho advised on advanced NLP techniques, fairness testing to remove bias (reducing discrimination by 89%), and scaling model deployment for over 100,000 concurrent users.
VoteRight: Civic Engagement through Tech
Team Odenigbo Advocates produced VoteRight, an interactive app educating first-time voters and guiding them through Nigeria’s electoral process. Under the mentorship of Esther Anyiam, the team implemented GPS-based polling locators, encrypted reporting of voter intimidation, and a verified candidate database—enhancing both security and usability.
MentalHealthBuddy: AI for Culturally-Aware Mental Health Support
Team Amurie Omanze Coders built MentalHealthBuddy, a chatbot delivering mental health assistance in over 50 languages. Judges Victor Ifechukwude Agboli, Leleji Akpewe James, Sandra I. Eziama, Ngozi Judith Eziama, Timothy Ekene Anyim, and Stella Chisom Eziama advised on privacy-preserving AI, linguistic optimization for low-resource languages, sub-second response times, empathetic dialogue design, and user engagement strategies—transforming the prototype into a secure and culturally relevant platform.
Beyond the Competition
Dr. Eziama emphasized that the hackathon is part of a broader plan to embed innovation within the academic system. Follow-up initiatives include project incubation, long-term mentorship, and internship pipelines through the NSE Orlu Branch. Multiple government bodies and private firms have already expressed interest in supporting standout solutions.
Closing the event, Rev. Engr. Anthony Ekejiuba, MNSE, Chairman of NSE Orlu Branch, noted:
“When our youth develop tools for food security, voter education, and mental health, they are not just innovating—they are actively shaping Nigeria’s future.”
With ambitions to expand nationally, the NSE Orlu Hybrid AI & Programming Hackathon is poised to become an annual platform for harnessing the creativity and technical skills of Nigeria’s next generation of engineers and technologists.
