Arewa Wikimedia Hackathon 2026 The Wikimedia technical ecosystem continues to grow globally, but in many regions, there is still a gap between contributors and tool builders. In Northern Nigeria, this gap is especially visible – while many people contribute to Wikimedia projects, fewer are involved in building tools and technical solutions. To address this, the Arewa TechCom Hackathon 2026 was organized in Abuja as a focused effort to strengthen technical capacity and encourage hands-on participation in Wikimedia development. The hackathon brought together developers, Wikimedians, and newcomers to collaborate on real-world challenges related to Wikidata and Wikimedia tools. Participants worked in teams, exploring ways to improve data quality, validate references, and build simple tools that support contributors. One of the key tools showcased during the event was the Wikidata Reference Validator , a tool designed to identify broken or missing references in Wikidata.…