…As stakeholders call for sustained funding

The Odu’a Investment Foundation (OIF), through its Byte Busters Coding Club under the DEFINED (Digital Education for Innovation and Economic Development) initiative, has grown into a network of 20 centres reaching over 4,500 learners in18 local government areas.

The Byte Busters Coding Club of the Odu’a Investment Foundation (OIF) is the flagship initiative that empowers public secondary school students with digital literacy and creative problem-solving skills.

The Byte Busters Coding Club envisions a future where every child in Southwest Nigeria becomes a proficient coder, capable of creating innovative solutions and contributing to the global tech ecosystem, while its mission is to cultivate ethical tech leaders who harness their skills to drive positive change, encourage creativity, and advance the digital revolution.

Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, chairman, Advisory Council, Odua Investment Foundation (OIF), in her address at the Byte Busters showcase 2026, which is the second edition in Ibadan, disclosed that Byte Busters now operate across all six South-West states, and that the “quality of the projects before us shows clearly that our students are not merely learning how to use technology; they are learning how to think with it, build with it, and apply it to problems that affect their schools, families and communities”.

While saying that the distinction is important, she said, “Our young people are growing up in a world in which artificial intelligence, digital platforms and new technologies will shape how they learn, work, communicate and create.

“We must give them the confidence and capability to participate actively in shaping the digital future, so I am delighted by the continued expansion of the program and by the increasing sophistication of the projects being developed by the students. From applications addressing learning and accessibility to ideas connected with agriculture, commerce, public safety and indigenous language, these young people are showing us what becomes possible when talent is given opportunity.

She said the Foundation has also witnessed its approach through the digital literacy training for teachers programme, recognising that sustainable transformation in education must include those who stand in classrooms every day.

“By equipping teachers with practical digital skills and using a Train-the-Trainer model, we are building capacity that can multiply far beyond the first cohort,” she said.

In his address, Tola Kasali, Group Chairman, Odu’a Investment Company Limited, said the future of any society was forged long before its next generation takes the reins of leadership.

According to Kasali, “It is shaped by the quality of education we provide, the values we instil, the skills we nurture, and the opportunities we make universally accessible.

For Odu’a Investment Company Limited, our mandate extends well beyond asset management and corporate financial performance. Rooted in the sustainable development of Southwest Nigeria, our true responsibility encompasses the future of the people, communities, and regional economies we exist to serve. Commercial prosperity and social development are not mutually exclusive; they are deeply complementary. A vibrant region requires productive enterprises, resilient institutions, skilled professionals, dynamic entrepreneurs, and a youth population fully equipped to thrive in a global, knowledge-driven economy.

“We must therefore ask ourselves a defining question: What are we doing today to empower the leaders who will shape Southwest Nigeria tomorrow? This vital imperative lies at the heart of the Odu’a Investment Foundation—our corporate social responsibility vehicle designed to deliver sustainable interventions across education, healthcare, and youth development. The Foundation embodies our belief that true progress is measured not merely by balance sheets, but by the lives we uplift and the opportunities we create,” he said.

A legacy of educational leadership

Southwest Nigeria has long recognised education as the ultimate catalyst for social mobility. The legendary legacy of Obafemi Awolowo and the landmark educational advancements of the former Western Region remain foundational chapters of our shared history. However, that proud heritage challenges us to continually re-examine what meaningful education demands today.

Kasali noted that “In this era, that conversation must prioritise digital literacy and technological fluency.

Technology is fundamentally reshaping global industries, redefining labour markets, and altering how societies function. To navigate this landscape, our youth require far more than basic digital familiarity; they must cultivate critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and the capacity to apply technology to real-world challenges. Crucially, these competencies must not be restricted to privileged institutions. Every child with a spark of curiosity deserves the opportunity to transform that curiosity into capability.”

On his part, Yinusa Abdulrahman, Group Managing Director, Odua Investment Company Limited, said that technology was changing how people work, learn, communicate, and do business, and that it is changing things fast.

“Yet access to practical digital learning is still uneven, especially for many children in public schools. Their curiosity and potential are not in doubt. What is often missing is access to the resources, guidance, and opportunities they need to develop that potential,” Abdulrahman noted.

According to him, “We believe a child’s future should not be determined by the school they attend or the resources available in their immediate environment. That belief led the Odu’a Investment Foundation to introduce DEFINED—Digital Education for Innovation and Economic Development—our flagship initiative designed to strengthen digital literacy and equip learners and teachers across Southwest Nigeria with skills for the future.

“DEFINED recognises that digital education must begin early, that teachers are essential to its success, and that young people need opportunities to move beyond theory—to experiment, create, and apply what they learn. Byte Busters is one of the practical ways we bring that vision to life.

“Through after-school coding clubs in public secondary schools across the six states of Southwest Nigeria, students are introduced to coding, artificial intelligence, digital creativity, computational thinking, and problem-solving. But our ambition goes beyond teaching young people to write code.

“We want them to develop the confidence to ask questions, the discipline to work through difficult problems, the creativity to imagine new possibilities, and the courage to turn their ideas into something useful. We want a student who sees a problem in their community to start asking, “What can I create that might help solve this?”

Seun Kolade, professor and project director, defined the project in his keynote address, saying the great competition of the coming decades would be between societies that prepared their young people to understand, adapt and create with technology, and societies that allowed them to remain merely consumers of what others created.

He said Africa still has a choice about which side of that divide it will occupy.

“Last year, I asked us to give our children wings and the wind to soar; today I ask for something more ambitious: let us ensure that when the technologies, businesses and solutions of the next twenty years are being built, our children are not standing outside looking in.

“Let them be inside, let them be coding, let them solve the problems of their communities. Let them build in Yoruba, English, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili, and in the languages of code that connect them to the World.”

Kolade, however, urged governments, businesses, old students, associations, philanthropists, and diaspora communities to commit greater resources to the work, computers, connectivity, learning space, facilitators, equipment and sustained funding.

“This year, we are seeing projects that engage directly with the world around them: an AI-powered CBT platform, Tomato AI, exploring technology in Agriculture; an emergency response system, a sign language application and an AI-powered marketplace for local traders. Other teams are tackling post-harvest losses and building a Yoruba-English translation application”, the project director added.