By Emeka Aginam

THE Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) has made a startling revelation over the huge revenue the government of Nigeria has been losing to non regulation of Information Technology businesses. President of the Council, Mr Vincent Asor said that if the federal government can check activities of non registered IT professionals, the council could raise over N4.5 billion yearly.

While calling on the federal government to disengage all IT practitioners within the government circle who are not registered with the CPN, Asor said the IT practice has the potentials to make the economy strong. CPN is a body under the Ministry of education charged with the control and supervision of the computing profession in the country. The Council is primarily charged with responsibility for building-up local Information Technology (IT) capacity as well as the regulation of IT practice in Nigeria.

Asor who spoke to Technology Journalists at the weekend, unfolding the council’s activities for the 2016, noted that with the  support of government and private sector,  the  CPN has the capacity to raise over N4.5 billion annually through IT regulation.

Quackery in the Nigerian IT practice

To realize the money, the University Don who condemned in clear terms, quackery in the Nigerian IT practice said that the government should disengage any person or group engaging in IT practice without registration. “Quackery has been the bane of IT practice in Nigeria.  Quackery is worrisome .I want to re-emphasize that quackery in IT practice must stop. Enough is enough.  Government says they are broke. CPN can raise billions of naira to the government annually.

“We have more than 100,000 IT professionals in the country with less than N10, 000.00 annual fees for individuals. We also have about 20,000 corporate IT professionals with N150, 000 annual fees. There is no reason we cannot raise the said amount if all the IT professionals registers with the CPN.    “This Council can support the government with this amount without moving out of the office.  It is time the government wakes up.  IT is open to everybody in the information highway but it must be regulated accordingly. If people are registered accordingly, cyber crime will reduce to the barest minimum and we will make money for the government.

“Government is broke because there are lots of financial leakages around the government circle and government has closed its eyes to it. In the practice of computing and computational process, for instance, government is losing billions of naira to unregistered IT practitioners, whom we describe as quacks in the IT profession, yet majority of them are in the government circle. Should all quacks that are not registered and are practicing IT in Nigeria, decide to register with CPN, the council cannot raise over N4.5 billion for the federal government on a yearly basis,” Asor said.

He added that, “IT Assembly is an exclusive networking event for senior Information Technology (IT) decision makers, IT consultants, upcoming IT entrepreneurs, IT practitioners, teachers and IT Systems administrators.

He disclosed that the Assembly would provide a platform for some of the industry innovative technology distribution and service providers to showcase their products and services and for participants to appreciate the emerging technologies, trends, and risks that are associated with transforming the various industries using IT.