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

Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head Corporate Affairs and External Relations of NITDA and Mrs. Azuka Ogugua, Spokes Person of ICPC said this on Monday in a joint statement issued in Abuja.

Umar said the IFF Project which is supported by Ford Foundation Office for West Africa, will be handled by NITDA’s subsidiary, the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (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.

She said that young people applying for the Hackathon will enable them come up with defined ideas and prototype solutions to checkmate IFFs with emphasis on leveraging emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Big data, blockchain, Quantum computing, Internet of Things, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality among others.

Umar said the event scheduled to hold on September 1-2 will open with a bootcamp at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR), Abuja while a Demonstration Day will take place at ICPC Auditorium, Abuja on the second and final day.

“ONDI is hereby 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.”

Umar directed interested applicants to apply via: https://bit.ly/iffhackathon,while the application will close on Aug. 26.

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.

Hackathon is event in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming.