My NYSC year at the Federal University of Technology Minna was one chapter in a longer commitment: making technology more accessible, practical, and useful. Across teaching, student projects, departmental support, research, and learning infrastructure, the goal was to leave people with more ways to participate and build.
The work was not just about delivering lessons. It was about giving students practical ways to learn, build, collaborate, and demonstrate what they can do.
There is more than one way into this story. Choose what interests you and jump to the work behind it.
Explore the teaching, project guidance, SWEMLab, and browser-based workflows designed to help students learn by building.
Access to technology is not only about connectivity or devices. It is also about whether a student can practise, whether a department has the tools and resources to support learning, and whether promising ideas can move from a classroom into real use. That belief shaped my service year.
I worked across several layers of that problem: teaching and assessment, project guidance, a virtual lab, AI/ML lab readiness, research support, departmental documentation, and physical storage for important records. Some contributions were digital; others were practical, physical, and administrative.
SWEMLab was one practical response to the access challenge. It helped students work in the browser, follow structured activities, collaborate in teams, and receive feedback without spending the first part of every session configuring a machine. It sits alongside teaching, mentoring, lab support, research, and departmental service.
SWEMLab brought course resources and hands-on development into a more accessible workflow for students and instructors.
Authentic screenshots from the live platform showing how students track industry readiness, browse course catalogs, and collaborate on structured team projects.
Teaching full lecture halls, students presenting their projects to a panel of lecturers, and walking staff through the tools: the people and moments behind the numbers.
The contribution extended into teaching support, lab readiness, student project development, research collaboration, and departmental operations.
Taught Introduction to Software Engineering to 400+ students across Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information and Media Science, Cyber Security, and IFT; graded 400+ report workbooks; and guided 80+ individual-project students through research, problem definition, PRDs, documentation, workshops, and delivery.
Learning supportCreated 30+ software project guides for 200-level students, introduced students to public API endpoints across entertainment, health, finance, transport, and logistics, and produced an instructional video to help students record their project work in logbooks.
Project developmentAdded a team-project workflow to SWEMLab so instructors can create projects, team leads can invite classmates, and instructors can monitor progress.
Product thinkingDelegated to the Department of Artificial Intelligence to help set up an operational AI/ML lab with Anaconda, NumPy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Seaborn, SciPy, and Jupyter Notebook, validated with an Iris classification workflow.
Lab enablementWorked with professors on research papers for publication and provided technical consultancy for a Blockchain Master’s Programme handled by the Centre for Emerging Technologies, FUT Minna.
Research supportSupported departmental needs through the 2025 annual report, lab-manager computer configuration, 100-level orientation documentation and slides for the HOD, course content for Application Packages, and preparation that supported Software Engineering accreditation lab verification.
Operational supportJudged 20+ student projects and supported decisions about which projects addressed real problems. Helped make student work more visible through a curated public showcase and a departmental GitHub organisation.
Review & visibilityAdded structured course activities and guided materials to support practical work, including a video explaining how students should record project progress in their logbooks.
Teaching resourcesI built and donated two wooden storage cabinets to the Department of Software Engineering for papers, records, and on-site documentation. Not every useful contribution is software; some are about improving the everyday environment in which a department works.
Two important behind-the-scenes efforts: making an AI/ML lab usable for practical exercises and giving instructors a clearer way to guide and assess project work.
In April 2026 I was delegated to the Department of Artificial Intelligence to set up its lab: installed Anaconda and the core Python data-science stack, then ran test workflows, including an end-to-end Iris classification exercise, to confirm the lab was ready.
Walked staff through SWEMLab v2, its activities, team project workflow, and progress visibility so the platform could fit into actual course delivery.
The student showcase turns learning into visible evidence: teams, repositories, and live deployments that others can explore beyond the classroom.
Twenty student teams of four designed, architected, built, and deployed full software systems to solve real-world problems. Each team defended their system architecture on the whiteboard and demonstrated live, production code on laptops before a departmental panel of lecturers.
Short video excerpts of teams pitching their architecture on the board and walking through production code on laptops.
A student team explaining their system diagram, data flow, and design patterns to the lecturer evaluation panel.
Students walking through working user flows, live database updates, and GitHub deployments directly on a laptop.
Photos and clips from the 20 student project defense sessions. All 17 full recordings and additional photos are in the shared Drive folder ↗.
A service-year record from December 2025 to November 2026, drawn from my monthly activity reports to the Head of Department.
Began NYSC service on 17 December as Emerging Technology Lab Instructor in the Department of Software Engineering, FUT Minna.
Drafted the department’s 2025 annual report in response to Senate-related requests, configured the lab manager’s computer, and prepared the 100-level orientation execution document and the slides the HOD used at orientation.
Built and launched SWEMLab, onboarded 200+ students, and taught an introductory class on the Software Development Lifecycle. Improved the platform with feedback from students and lecturers, added AI features, and drafted the Application Packages course content.
Guided students through platform activities and how to record them in their logbooks, recorded an instructional video, added automated grading, and published the full set of activities for the Software Engineering course.
Delegated to the Department of Artificial Intelligence to set up its AI/ML lab: installed Anaconda and the core machine-learning libraries, then ran test workflows to confirm the lab was ready. See the lab ↓
Wrote 30+ project ideas and implementation guides for 200-level students, curated open APIs across entertainment, health, finance, transport, and logistics, and added team projects to SWEMLab, with team leads inviting classmates and instructors tracking progress.
Expanded collaborative project workflows and course activities; supported research-paper work with professors; and provided technical consultancy for the Blockchain Master’s Programme handled by the Centre for Emerging Technologies, FUT Minna. Opened an anonymous student feedback survey on SWEMLab. See results ↓
Deployed SWEMLab v2, walked staff and instructors through it, judged 20+ student projects, and supported selection of projects addressing real problems.
Curated the public student project showcase, set up a departmental GitHub organisation, and planned a virtual-lab workshop.
Built and donated two wooden storage cabinets for departmental papers, records, and on-site documentation. Add any other verified September activities here.
Ran a hands-on SWEMLab workshop for department staff, presented certificates of participation, and closed with a goodbye celebration with colleagues. See the photos ↓
Service is scheduled to conclude on 19 November 2026. Update after completion with the actual handover, final deliverables, and closing reflections.
Monthly NYSC clearance, Chanchaga Local Government, Minna.
Before the service year closed, I ran a hands-on SWEMLab workshop for staff of the Department of Software Engineering, so the people who teach with the platform can run it without me. The day ended with certificates of participation and a goodbye with colleagues.
Each participating staff member received a certificate of participation for the workshop. We closed the day with a small goodbye celebration, a chance to thank the colleagues who supported this work throughout the year.
Goodbyes with colleagues in the Department of Software Engineering.
Between June and August 2026, students evaluated their experience with SWEMLab and practical project learning. The responses reflect strong peer recommendations, confidence in applying software engineering concepts, and genuine excitement around collaborative development.
“My favorite feature is the project collaboration where students can work together on one project.”— ANONYMOUS STUDENT · SWEMLAB EVALUATION
“Helped me understand UML better from SEN 201.”— ANONYMOUS STUDENT · SWEMLAB EVALUATION
“It taught me how to use GitHub.”— ANONYMOUS STUDENT · SWEMLAB EVALUATION
“The instructions under each project were really good and easy to understand.”— ANONYMOUS STUDENT · SWEMLAB EVALUATION
Source: SWEMLab Learning Platform Impact Survey, Department of Software Engineering, FUT Minna. Student feedback verified from cohort evaluations.
If a part of this work resonates with you, celebrate it, share the page, or send a thoughtful note. Appreciation is most useful when it is genuine and specific.
Trigger a ceremonial salute for the service year, enable interactive sky fireworks across the page, or share this record with others.
The work at FUT Minna is connected to a larger question that shapes my research interests, graduate-school goals, and community-building: how do we make useful technology and infrastructure more accessible to people and institutions with fewer resources?
My interest in access does not end at the classroom door. Through TheInfra, an African infrastructure community initiative operating under TAQ Limited, my private company, I am also working toward stronger connections, learning opportunities, and visibility for people building and operating technology across Africa.
This is the same throughline: make it easier for people to learn, participate, build, and contribute — whether the setting is a university lab, a student project, or a wider technical community.
National service is one chapter in a longer commitment: making technical knowledge, practical computing, and infrastructure opportunities more accessible across Africa.
Through TheInfra, under TAQ Limited, I want to help more African engineers learn from one another, contribute to open technical communities, and find pathways into infrastructure engineering and research.
The next steps include growing InfraConf Africa as a meeting point for the continent's infrastructure community, developing the student-facing AI and Emerging Technology Research Group (AIHRG), and continuing research into resource-efficient AI infrastructure, distributed systems, and cloud-native systems that can work under real-world constraints.
These are ongoing ambitions, not claims that the work is already complete. The direction is clear: turn what I have learned from teaching and building at FUT Minna into opportunities that reach beyond one institution.
Grateful to the Department of Software Engineering, the instructors, students, and colleagues who made this year meaningful. The service chapter is one part of a wider commitment to practical technology education, accessible computing, and infrastructure communities across Africa.
Explore SWEMLab ↗ See student projects ↗ Explore TheInfra ↗