BY FAITH OLANIRAN, FUT-MINNA

The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS) has condemned the report submitted by Mr. Stephen Oronsaye which said that the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA,  should be  reduced to a department under the Ministry of Communication Technology.

The Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies led by a former head of service of the federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, recently released its report.

The 800-page concise summary recommended scrapping of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and conversion of 14 to departments in ministries. In all, it recommended that statutory agencies be reduced from 263 to 161 in order to reduce cost of governance.

Segun Adanigbo who is the National President of NACOSS said that should the recommendation stand, it will affect the development of IT at  all levels across the nation which will in turn discourage the development of local content which is supposed to increase the entrepreneurial ability among Nigerian youths.

The president went further to say that the report was hurriedly concocted and that the NACOSS National condemn it in its entirety.

“For we budding professionals, it is a wakeup call to stand up and be counted; backward policies must be resisted for our sake and the sake of coming generations.

Our advice to the Federal Government is to concentrate its resources, manpower and skills on surmounting the numerous security challenges facing the country.