In a significant advancement for African higher education and research, Landmark University management, led by Vice-Chancellor Professor Kolawole Ajanaku, received the leadership of the Covenant Applied Informatics and Communication Africa Centre of Excellence (CApIC-ACE) from Covenant University on Thursday 30th May 2024. The meeting focused on enhancing their collaboration under the World Bank-funded 2019-2024 ACE-Impact project, marking a pivotal step towards innovative research and capacity building.

Speaking on the collaboration, Professor Emeka Iweala, leader of CApIC-ACE, highlighted the alignment with ACE Impact achievement indicators. These indicators emphasized the importance of robust partnerships with leading educational institutions for joint supervision, research, publications, and conferences and hosting the FEDGEN testbed. He explained that the Region 3 testbed at Landmark University will be interconnected with the FEDGEN Master Region at Covenant University, creating a comprehensive distributed and federated private cloud infrastructure across Africa. This infrastructure is set to support precision medicine and artificial intelligence research.

"The CApIC-ACE project aims to build capacity, particularly for postgraduate studies, and to strengthen the capabilities of faculty and staff, fostering an environment for unlimited impact," said Professor Iweala. He also noted the project's goal to develop new molecular biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and malaria.

Professor Adetiba, the Principal Investigator of FEDGEN, elaborated on the project's vision to develop groundbreaking research in federated cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and general omics for precision medicine in Africa. "The federated cloud offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructures by combining smaller standalone facilities into larger, interconnected ones, enabling the storage and processing of big data," he explained. He further mentioned that partner universities from Nigeria, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa are collaborating to build this interconnected FEDGEN testbed, which will eventually form a pan-African federated cloud/HPC testbed.

Expressing his enthusiasm, Landmark University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ajanaku, lauded the collaboration as a testament to the university's commitment to excellence and global impact. He thanked Covenant University's management, CApIC-ACE's leadership, and the entire team for selecting Landmark University for this progressive collaboration. He assured that the university is ready to elevate the collaboration to new heights, potentially attracting future partnerships.

The meeting saw the presence of key management members from Landmark University, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor John Ojediran, Registrar Engr Adebayo Ajala, Dean of the College of Pure and Applied Sciences Professor Ayodele Adebiyi, Director of Systems and Information Mr. Femi Folarin, Mr. Sola Oyawoye representing the Director of Finance, Mr. Gbolahan representing the Chief Internal Auditor, and Head of Corporate and Public Affairs Mr. Olugbenga Olajide. They all expressed positive remarks about the collaboration and assured the creation of an enabling environment for its success.

Furthering the collaboration, the CApIC-ACE technical team, led by Engr Olubunmi Sweet-Williams, was on-site at Landmark University to deliver and install the FEDGEN Testbed for Region 3, marking a critical step in this landmark partnership.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ajanaku during the meeting with CApIC-ACE on collaboration

The Registrar, Engr Adebayo Ajala during the meeting with CApIC-ACE on collaboration

The Leader of CApIC-ACE, Professor Iweala speaking on the collaboration

The CApIC-ACE FEDGEN PI, Professor Adetiba speaking on the Project

The meeting between Landmark University and the CApIC-ACE on collaboration

The CApIC-ACE technical team led by Engr Olubunmi Sweet-William (middle) on-site at Landmark University during the meeting 

The Landmark University management and the CApIC-ACE technical team in a group photograph after the meeting