By EMEKA AGINAM

WHILE condemning  the management of the recent nationwide recruitment tests by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) that led to loss of lives, the  Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) has urged  President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to  urgently consider the inclusion of the software professional association in the membership of the panel in order to provide expert insight to the considerations given or otherwise to modern, software-driven best practice in exercises of this nature.

Commending the  prompt action of  President Jonathan, the President of ISPON, Mr Chris Uwaje  a press parley, weekend,  charged  Nigerians to join in the fight against mediocrity , even as he called  for the deployment of IT in solving critical societal issues such as general elections, national census and e-governance.

While commiserating with the bereaved, he said that the the  application  local software could have saved lives of  the applicants that lost their lives.

He said that ISPON was appalled at  the way NIS  employed  such crude techniques in short listing graduates for employment in its service.

“It is uncalled for to bring thousands of applicants to an open space whilst being exposed to the elements to conduct a recruitment test in an age where e-testing can be implemented.

“ISPON wishes to state unequivocally that as a professional body, it stands aloof of politics, and firmly on the side of Nigeria and its millions of youth that have chosen to work diligently, applying their intellect and energy in meaningful pursuit of their aspirations for self-actualisation.

We would be negligent in ignoring this national catastrophe that borders at best on gross incompetence and intellectual laziness.

“Given the loss of precious lives of  tomorrow’s leaders, it is our view that the actions of the NIS are arguably criminally negligent since there were many options available that would not have threatened the lives of these children.

“It is inconceivable that in the 21st century, any responsible organization should assemble 68,000 youths in a single location apparently to be tested manually  – how? Pertinent questions to be asked include how were the scripts to be distributed, candidates supposed to answer questions independently and answers protected all under a manually  invigilation?

“It is clear that the whole exercise lacked a structured process leading to questions as to the professional competence of the consultant presumably cleared through Due Process to handle the recruitment.

“Certainly, no professionally certified consultant would ignore the multiplicity of software solutions available for this purpose’ he explained.

According to Uwaje who is passionate about local content , “We must protest this abuse and protect the integrity of our profession because this is a software challenge that has long been solved by Software Nigeria but is being ignored by an agency of the very government that has demonstrated a commitment to the cause of growing the capacity of indigenous software companies.

“Nigeria will continue to record avoidable losses and embarrassment if our Government and its affiliated agencies continue to have technophobia and underrate the efficacy of Software Nigeria” , he said.