Illegal Financial Flows In MDAs: NITDA, ICPC Urge Application For Hackathon

The 2022 Hackathon application has been opened by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to address Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) in MDAs.

This was stated on Monday in a joint statement released in Abuja by Hadiza Umar, Head of Corporate Affairs and External Relations at NITDA, and Azuka Ogugua, Spokesperson for the ICPC.

According to Umar, the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation, a division of NITDA, will manage the IFF Project, which is funded by the Ford Foundation Office for West Africa (ONDI).
 
She said that the Hackathon is aimed at developing indigenous solutions to curb IFFs in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“IFF will 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,” she said.

Using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the cloud, big data, blockchain, quantum computing, the internet of things, augmented reality, and virtual reality, among others, will help young people who apply for the Hackathon develop defined ideas and prototype solutions to checkmate IFFs, according to the speaker.

According to Umar, the event, which is slated to take place on September 1-2, will begin with a boot camp at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) in Abuja and conclude with a Demonstration Day at the ICPC Auditorium in Abuja.

“ONDI is hereby calling for applications from eligible individuals, groups with innovative ideas and prototypes that would leverage emerging technologies to help address the menace of IFFs within the nation’s expanding digital economy.”

Umar advised interested candidates to submit an application at https://bit.ly/iffhackathon before the application deadline on August 26.

A division of NITDA, ONDI was established to ensure the growth, expansion, and protection of Nigeria's digital innovation ecosystem for the development of its digital economy.

The Office's mandate is to support the development of the Nigerian digital economy through the establishment of innovation-driven businesses that would foster job growth and the spread of ideas that will expand the market and boost Nigeria's prosperity.

A hackathon is a gathering where several individuals come together to work on collaborative computer programming.