How Abdulqudus Abubakre helped build a Government platform serving six million Nigerian youth

Abdulqudus Abubakre learned to code out of boredom. And maybe a bit of curiosity.

It was a school holiday. He had nothing to do. His options were either hardware development or software development. His dad supported the software choice and even bought him a laptop. Abubakre taught himself HTML and CSS, played around with it for a while, then got bored again. The laptop became a gaming device. 

Years later, a friend at school was deep into web development. Abubakre’s interest flickered back to life. They talked. He picked it up again. This time, something stuck. He put in the hours. He landed a paid internship. Contract roles, then full-time positions. That was over half a decade ago.

Today, Abubakre is a Senior Frontend Developer at LottieFiles and one of Nigeria’s most respected Vue.js specialists. His most defining work came at Outsource Global, where he led the front-end engineering for NASIMS, the federal government’s social intervention platform. 

“We had to be really intentional about building things that scale,” Abubakre says. “You’re looking at a minimum of six million people signing up. Every decision had to cater for everybody.”

The technical challenge was immense. The platform needed to handle massive traffic without crashing. The user interface had to work for graduates and for people who weren’t computer literate. Every design choice mattered.

But the harder lessons weren’t technical.

“I learned how to interface with government officials and people who weren’t tech savvy,” he says. “You had to strike a balance between being a tech lead and making the client satisfied. They’d say, ‘We need this pushed out by tomorrow.’ As a tech lead, you know that’s going to be difficult. You have to manage expectations and make sure your team can deliver properly.”

Leading without breaking people

Abubakre believes great teams build great products. He also believes you can’t build a great team by grinding people into the ground.

“Before I was able to lead any team, I was an engineer myself. I understand how we work,” he says. “I try to build a healthy relationship with team members. Someone they can approach at any time. I’m not always on their neck. I give them freedom to do things at their own pace without sabotaging the business.”

He doesn’t give unrealistic deadlines. If something takes a week, he gives a week and a couple of days, just in case.

“You want your engineers to give 90% or 80%, at least. A lot of that is down to their mental health, their condition at any given time. You want to make sure they’re always at optimal performance.”

It’s a deliberate approach. He’s worked in environments where developers are squeezed dry. He’s seen what happens when pressure replaces support. His style is different. He wants people to deliver without burning out. He wants them to feel valued.

“When it’s time to play, we play. When it’s time to work, we work.” That’s his mantra.

Building Accessibility Nigeria

Abubakre noticed something over the years. A gap. Websites and apps in Nigeria weren’t built for people with disabilities. The colours were wrong. Buttons weren’t clickable for screen readers. People were locked out of the digital world.

“A lot of people with disabilities have difficulties navigating digital platforms,” he says. “Developers don’t build things that are accessible. It’s a very big problem, particularly in Nigeria.”

So he co-founded Accessibility Nigeria with a friend. The goal was simple. Help developers understand what they were building. Help people with disabilities know they can still be part of the digital ecosystem.

They’ve partnered with tech conferences like Open Source Festival and She Code Africa. They’ve worked with Google Developer Groups to make events accessible. They organize monthly meetups to teach developers how to build accessible products.

“We felt that was a good starting point for people interested in tech. If you have some sort of disability and you’re looking for communities or events, we’re trying to make sure people are able to attend.”

Focusing on what matters

Abubakre isn’t chasing the dopamine hit of code that works on the first try anymore. He’s past that. What drives him now is seeing users. Daily active users growing. Live feedback coming in. Knowing the thing he built is being used by a lot of people.

“Writing code is good. It’s satisfying when you write a piece of code and it works well. But being able to push out something that’s actually impactful, that’s actually useful, that’s really satisfying.”

He’s had plenty of moments where he got excited about a feature, built it, pushed it out, and nobody used it. So he’s learned. The code working doesn’t guarantee users will like it.

“As developers, we try to solve problems. Being able to achieve that goal is satisfying.”

He’s been fortunate to work with companies building something innovative. A digital signing solution that was completely private, processed right in the browser. Companies are rethinking how animations work on the web. Organizations helping the Nigerian tech scene grow.

But his advice to developers starting today is practical. Use AI, but be careful. Get approval from your organisation first. You could accidentally expose sensitive data.

“AI is good for coming up with certain logic, but you need to understand the business idea and business implications of what you’re asking the AI to do. AI is not going to automatically replace your skill. You need to know what you’re doing. AI is just going to support you and help you move faster.”

He also warns against the biggest misconception in tech that it’s a get-rich-quick scheme.

“People see others on vacation and think, ‘I want to do this.’ Then they get into tech and realize, ‘I’m not getting a job. I’m not getting paid. How long do I have to keep doing this?’ Even though the barrier to entry is low, you still have to put in the work. You still have to put in the time.”

Abubakre wants to keep writing code. He doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. But he also wants to move into roles like VP of Engineering or CTO. Positions where he can manage people and still write code occasionally. Where he can shape teams, culture, and products.

And he wants to take Accessibility Nigeria global. Make it something everyone across the world knows about.

For now, he’s still that bored kid who taught himself HTML during a school holiday. Except now, millions of people depend on what he builds. And he’s making sure they all get to use it.