Ozioma Ubabukoh

The first full-fledged university embedded technology community in West Africa called 'Roar Nigeria Hub' has opened at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

The UNN's Vice Chancellor, Prof. Benjamin Ozumba, confirmed this on Monday, saying that he had always wanted to create an ecosystem that would fuel unprecedented technology growth in Africa.

He said, "However, we shall be having a public introduction of the Roar Nigeria on April 26, 2017 at the hub on University of Nigeria, Nsukka campus."

Our correspondent gathered that the hub had been located on the Nsukka campus of the university and as a private sector-driven initiative by two engineering graduates of the institution, who preferred to remain anonymous for now.

According to them, the hub will serve the UNN, which has a student population of nearly 40,000, and about 12 other institutions of higher learning within an hour drive from Enugu metropolis.

"The hub is on a mission to produce the next generation of entrepreneurs by providing an enabling environment, support systems and relevant skills to succeed with technology entrepreneurship across the South-East region while impacting the Information Technology ecosystem in Nigeria," the initiators told The PUNCH on Monday.

The University Advancement Centre Executive, Emem Seudieu, said that Roar Nigeria Hub was a community providing professional support to technology enabled start-ups, researchers, entrepreneurs and the Small and Medium Enterprises.

"Their programmes are designed to develop a new generation of innovators and creators that will provide local technology-based solutions with a global perspective.

"The hub is destined to be a hotbed of ideas, inventions and market induced solutions created with the concept of a triple helix; an interaction between the academia, industry and government," Seudieu said.

"The hub will create employment by increasing local content in Information, Communication and Technology sector and establish the triple helix concept by improving collaboration between the academia, industry and government," she added.

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