BY EMEKA AGINAM

AHEAD of it 2014 national conference, the  Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has reemphasized its  commitment to facilitating the emergence of a knowledge based Nigeria.

To provide the strategies and solutions NCS will be organizing its 2014 flagship conference under the theme, “Building a Knowledge-Based Economy in Nigeria: The Role of IT.

2014 is another year for the delivery of value to the Nigerian economy and society by the IT profession and industry, and for NCS the

With  priority focus  on building a knowledge based society, Jide Awe  Chairman, Publicity, Events and Trade Services said that   Nigeria’s developmental challenges of unemployment, poverty, disease and low quality of life were daunting and must be resolved. This according to him,  urgently calls for vision that is both audacious and innovative. Achieving social and economic development, he stressed  requires the building of a knowledge economy through significant IT driven change in finance, education, health, agriculture, governance and other critical sectors.

For NCS, 2014, according to Awe  is a year of innovative vision and opportunities requiring strategy and action to connect IT to growth opportunities for job creation, income generation, enterprise development, capacity building and export.

Focus areas to enable such growth in 2014, he informed include mobile apps, e-government, social media, software education and entrepreneurship, local content development, youth innovation, among others.

In line with the vision of NCS the solution lies in actively facilitating the development of an inclusive, globally competitive and prosperous Nigeria that is significantly information technology-based and knowledge-driven.