By Emeka Aginam

For 21st century digital Nigeria, the President of  the Nigerian Computer Society, NCS, Prof David Adewumi   has said that in addition to Cybercrime Act,  legislation should be enacted to foster the development of Information Technology and  IT enabled activities in the country.

The NCS President who stated this in a press conference recently to unfold activities for the 12th edition of the NCS  international conference holding next week in  Akure,  Ondo State,  with the theme , “Information Technology for Inclusive Development”  also called for  Inclusive development through Information Technology.

Digital Nigeria in setting the digital agenda for the nation,  he said that actionable initiatives will be developed during the conference to advance the IT profession and industry and build an inclusive digital Nigeria.

Lack of government recognition while lamenting total neglect of IT professionals in the national polity, he said that, “But the challenge has been that we have never had any concrete recognition from the various government we have had in this country.

“The usage of IT in Governance and Security needs to be improved through more widespread adoption of IT professionalism in the private and public sectors.

NCS and its members can play a major role in improving the state of security nationwide, combating terrorism, enhancing public service delivery and accountability and boosting job creation”, he said.

Adopting various approaches, the gathering of IT academia, industry and thought leaders  at the international conference, he added  would address challenges and highlights opportunities related to building a globally competitive and prosperous Nigeria that is significantly information technology-based and knowledge-driven.

He informed that the conference will focus on  important issues related to the theme such as smart city & broadband penetration, innovation and leadership in IT, cashless society & e-Payment systems, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIIP), Cloud computing & big data, social networks, next generation networking and the internet, IT human capital development , e-Health/e-Education, among others.

NCS advocacy For Nigeria to be globally competitive in the knowledge society, NCS, according to him  advocates the following:

*The government should comply with the CPN Act (4a) in the appointment of IT experts into various boards and parastatals.

*All boards of MDAs, especially those that depend on IT to perform and fulfil their mandate, must have at least one IT expert as a member for rapid economic development of the nation

*In addition to the Cybercrime Act, legislation should be enacted to foster the development of IT and IT enabled activities and the growth of the IT Industry and Profession

*The usage of IT in Governance and Security needs to be improved through more widespread adoption of IT professionalism in the private and public sectors. NCS and its members can play a major role in improving the state of security nationwide, combating terrorism, enhancing public service delivery and accountability and boosting job creation.

*There should be preferential usage of Nigerian professionals in major and strategic national IT projects and initiatives instead of always importing people, products and solutions and creating jobs in other countries.

Fostering innovation, inclusion and networking

According to him, the conference which  comprises plenary, parallel and technical sessions, networking meetings, panel discussions and special focus forums will  provide opportunities for policy makers, public and private sector, IT practitioners and the academia to keep up-to-date with technology trends and to discover opportunities for the public and private sectors in the process of inclusive development.

Advancing the IT industry and profession

Meanwhile, NCS , according to him, organizes  the conference annually as the powerful voice advocating for government intervention, legislation, environmental and societal change that affects the IT sector and IT enabled activities.