By Nnamdi OJIEGO
Governor of Cross Rivers State, Senator Liyel Imoke has been announced to be the chairman of the annual President’s Dinner of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, ISPON, scheduled to hold on Friday, 25th of February, 2011 at the Annex Exployere Restaurant of Federal Palace Hotel (NEW WING), Lagos.

According to the President of ISPON, Mr Chris Uwaje, said the choice of Imoke was that his passion for Software Engineering Development and Promotion is unparallel amongst the current State  Governors’ in Nigeria today.

He said the President’s Dinner offered an executive forum for key stakeholders in the software ecosystem of developers, consumers, regulators, policy-makers, related professionals, and other interest groups, to interact and feedback on issues impacting the articulation of this key, albeit nascent, economic sector.

Uwaje stated that ISPON has been consistent in stating that the hope for national development lied in engaging the challenges posed by the emerging economy of the knowledge society. “Our focus is on promoting awareness on the imperative for developing Nigeria’s indigenous software development potential and innovative capacity as a national priority.

“It is hoped that by exposing the issues, establishing the strategic relevance of the sub-sector in meeting the challenges of national growth and prosperity; and providing a continuous platform for interaction and articulation of industry’s needs amongst a diverse target audience, a specific momentum can be built to create an enabling environment for the growth of the sub-sector”, he assured.

Meanwhile, the theme for this year’s edition is: “National Software Policy – Imperatives for Venture Capital and Incentives for the Developer Community”, while the keynote speaker for the occasion is the Group Managing Director of the United Bank for Africa, UBA, Dr. Phillips Oduoza.