By EMEKA AGINAM

As part of its commitment to sanitize the industry against what it described as quacks, the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria, CPN, has again warned Information Technology training institutions operating illegally across the nation especially in Lagos to desist from the act or face the log arm of the law.

The regulatory authority said that it would henceforth enforce the penalties for non registration as provided in the CPN Act, 1993 and CPN Control and Supervisory Regulations.

The Manager, Enforcement & Compliance Unit of CPN, Iheoma Emedoh who led the enforcement exercise to many IT training institutes in Lagos including NIIT, Lagos Computer College, among others recently noted that penalty awaits any organization operating illegally as IT training body .

According to her, section 22 (2), (5) and (6) of the CPN Act provides that it is an offence punishable by fine and/or imprisonment for any IT firm or consultant to engage in computing professional practice without being duly registered and possessing a valid current license.

Meanwhile, CPN has written to many IT training bodies including NIIT, Lagos Computer College, Megalios IT School, Agile Technologies (Nigeria) Limited among others on the need for renewal of registration without result.

The Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria) [CPN] is the apex regulatory body of Information Technology (IT) practice and education in Nigeria, established by Act No. 49 of 1993.

The Act makes it mandatory for all persons and organizations seeking to engage or is engaged in the sale and or use of computational facilities and other techniques related thereto and the provision of professional services in computing in the country to be registered and licensed by the Council to carry out such activities.