LAUTECH Emerges Victorious at Hack4Livestock, Bags ₦5 Million and US Trip for Ground breaking Solution

Abuja, Nigeria – Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, has been crowned the champions of the inaugural Hack4Livestock Hackathon, a national event aimed at revolutionizing Nigeria’s livestock sector through digital innovation. The four-day competition, which concluded today, May 23, 2025, in Abuja, saw LAUTECH’s “Team Agro-Alliance” secure the top prize, a significant cash award of ₦5,000,000, and an all-expenses-paid trip to an international conference in Florida, USA, in July.

Organized by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy through the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Hack4Livestock initiative attracted 10 top teams from across the nation.

Team Agro-Alliance, comprising the talented trio of Saka Muhammed (Mechanical Engineering), Olusanya Ayodeji (Electrical and Electronics Engineering), and Ojoawo Rosemary (Electrical and Electronics Engineering), showcased a groundbreaking technological solution that directly addresses critical challenges facing Nigeria’s livestock industry, particularly farmer-herder conflicts. Their AI-powered system is designed to detect cattle intrusions in farms and send instant notifications to farmers via the Internet of Things (IoT), providing remote monitoring, images, and live feeds of events.

Mentored by Professor T. B. Asafa, the Director of Emerging Skills and Technologies at LAUTECH, the team’s innovation was lauded by judges and organizers for its ingenuity, feasibility, and immense potential to significantly impact livestock productivity and management in Nigeria.

Beyond the cash prize and international exposure, the winning team will also receive incubation support, funding, and intellectual property protection through the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), a special purpose vehicle of NITDA.

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The Hack4Livestock Hackathon was launched with a total prize pool of ₦10 million, distributed among the top three winners. JVincent secured the second position with ₦3,000,000, while Livestocx came in third with ₦2,000,000 for their digital marketplace platform connecting livestock sellers and buyers.

This victory further solidifies LAUTECH’s burgeoning reputation as a national leader in technological innovation and engineering excellence, underscoring the vital role Nigerian youth are playing in leveraging technology to solve real-world problems and drive national development. The Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Maiha, also announced plans to empower 1,000 youths per state with valuable skills in various aspects of the livestock sector, further demonstrating the government’s commitment to tech-driven transformation in agriculture.