President of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Sir Demola Aladekomo recently held a Breakfast meeting with National Information Technology Merit Awards (NITMA) IT personality of the year award winners, nominees and other award winners at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos on Friday, April 5, 2013.
Jidaw notes that the forum provided opportunities to engage and interact with top achievers in Information Technology in Nigeria and to unveil future NCS plans which include establishing the world class NCS Information Technology Park.
Alhaji Ladi Ogunneye, Provost, NCS College of Fellows, Mr. Will Anyaegbunam, Managing Director of Beta Computers, Ernest Osagie, Publisher, Computer.com magazine, Mr. Tunji Balogun, Managing Director of Brian Integrated Systems, Mr. Aniekan Etiebet, MD/CEO, Data Sciences Nigeria, Mr. John Tani Obaro, Managing Director, Systemspecs and other prominent IT personalities were present at the event.
Alhaji Ladi Ogunneye, Provost, NCS College of Fellows, NCS, Mr. Aniekan Etiebet, MD/CEO, Data Sciences Nigeria and Sir Demola Aladekomo, President, NCS
In addition to the NCS President, NCS National Executive Council (NEC) members that attended the interactive forum were: Sam Juwe, First Vice President, Dr. (Mrs) Adeola Ilechukwu, Second Vice President, Dr. Adesina Sodiya, Chairman, Publications, Standards, Research and Development Committee, Professor Adesola Aderounmu, Chairman, Conferences Committee, Abimbola Olayinka , Chairman, Credentials Committee, Moses Braimah, Ex-Officio, Chris Uwaje, President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Chinedu Onuoha, Executive Secretary and Jide Awe, Chairman, Publicity, Events and Trade Services Committee.
Top media professionals who participated in the event include Mr. Stanley Opara of Punch Newspapers, Mr. Emeka Aginam of Vanguard Newspaper, Mr. Yemi Adepetun of Guardian Newspaper and Mr. Lucas Ajanaku of Nation Newspaper.
NCS values the presence and mind opening contributions of these stakeholders and looks forward to working with them to accelerate IT development in Nigeria through the national initiatives. The breakfast meeting started with the NCS President’s presentation in which he appreciated the efforts of top achievers in IT, their role in accelerating overall prosperity as wells the need for them to leverage on platforms provided by NCS to achieve even more significant impact and put Nigeria on the global IT map.
Achievements of NCS mentioned by Aladekomo during his presentation include facilitating the establishment of critical governmental technology institutions – the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology.
Mr. Tunji Balogun, Managing Director of Brian Integrated Systems, Mr. Will Anyaegbunam, Managing Director of Beta Computers, Mr. John Tani Obaro, Managing Director, Systemspecs
Providing a refreshing outlook to IT leadership in Nigeria, Jidaw observes that the engagement served to inform on major plans of NCS. Attendees were reminded about the upcoming NCS 2013 International Conference which will be held in the State of Osun in July 2013 (July 24th to 26th, 2013), tagged “e-Government and National Security”.
NCS Akwa Ibom 2012 Conference was outstanding. NCS 11th International Conference promises to be even more meaningful and impactful. Stakeholders are invited to join NCS in making history.
Noting that elections into the National Executive Council (NEC) will be held during the International Conference in Osun State, Aladekomo called for full participation of voters and contestants to enable NCS make a difference for the country.
He provided information about the proposed National Secretariat Building, which will be a Five Floors Building costing about N650 Million. NCS seeks the cooperation of organizations to take and brand some of the halls or floors with their corporate image.
Another highlight of this unique breakfast session was the exciting news that NCS intends to build an Information Technology Park. Already NCS has an approval to acquire hectares of land at Lekki, Lagos for this purpose which will be divided into industrial plots for corporate members of the society.
NCS, Sir Demola Aladekomo, President, NCS engaging with the Press
NCS President also announced during his presentation that NCS plans to visit to His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN – Executive Governor of Lagos State and President Goodluck Jonathan to discuss issues of concern to the industry. Jidaw notes that amongst the issues will be Legislation, Usage of IT in governance and security, Professionalizing the industry (Having IT professionals on boards of MDAs), implementation of mandates of CPN and NITDA and preferential usage of Nigerian professionals in projects, etc.
The breakfast meeting certainly raised critical topics that touched chords in all participants. Contributions were made in an interactive manner – the session was deeply engaging, thought provoking, sometimes fun, sometimes challenging, and definitely productive.
Issues were raised about the Ikeja Computer village, Computer and Allied Products Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), membership fees, the need for high level advocacy, Implementation monitoring and evaluation of IT projects, venture capital support, etc. All present agreed that it was indeed a fruitful meeting and called for more of such forums in future.
HAVE YOUR SAY: What do you make of NCS and ideas emanating from the breakfast meeting? Please share your thoughts and opinions.
Join us on Twitter, Google or Facebook. Subscribe for FREE IT Updates here.
Innovation and Development Advisory, ICT Advocacy
ICT Development Advisory Support and Consulting