By Emeka Aginam

…assures on job creation
The Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) has re-assured that it would use Information Technology to create millions of jobs across the country and also combat terrorism.

The NCS President,  Sir Demola Aladekomo, while unfolding details of its 2012 annual general meeting (AGM),  recently  emphasized the utilization of local content development through IT would  meet the need for massive job creation in Nigeria.

According to him, NCS and its members can play a massive role in state of security nationwide and terrorism and job creation.

“NCS is the largest group of Information Technology Professionals, Interest Groups and Stakeholders in Nigeria. NCS is the national platform for the advancement of Information Technology Sciences and Practices in Nigeria. There’s no doubt about it. IT is the major tool for change and innovation today with massive potential to contribute to economic growth and development, and to improve the lives of people.

“For Nigerians to fulfill their potentials and diversity the economy away from oil, Nigeria needs to move beyond consumption and activity” he explained.  According to him, NCS engages in several activities and organizes important events to promote local content development in IT in Nigeria.

“In carrying out its advocacy efforts, he disclosed that NCS adopted a national outlook in line with its commitment to accelerating the pace of IT development and promoting digital inclusion.

“It is committed to facilitating the development of information and knowledge based economy in which all the people of Nigeria deploy and exploit IT to gain significant social, economic and educational benefit and fulfill their potentials’ He further emphasized the need for government to support and encourage IT driven projects such as outsourcing and call centre operations to generate massive employment opportunities here in Nigeria.

While insisting that government agencies should use Nigerians and local firms to execute projects instead of always importing products and solutions and creating jobs in other countries, he noted that, “importing payroll software into Nigeria is a crime against humanity. Any government agency doing that is working against the interest of Nigerians. It is a massive concern and all of us should condemn it”.

Meanwhile, the society has outlined many events including Nigeria Information Technology Exhibition (NITEX) 2012, the Computer Science/Information Technology Research and Development Workshop, the International Research Consortium on Information Technology Innovations (ReCITI) 2012, the National Information Technology Merit Awards (NITMA) 2012 and the Annual Conference – Cashless 2012.

The events were all designed with the goal of promoting information and communication technology solutions that employ local capacity to improve the lives of Nigerians and move the nation forward.

Through its activities NCS continually shows commitment to initiatives that break down barriers to ICT access and projects that utilize IT to empower and close the digital divides in society.