BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

As the 2011 April general elections draws nearer, The Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON and Information and Telecommunication Association of Nigeria (ITAN) by a joint action have announced plans to engage all the Presidential candidates of all the political parties on ICT related issues before the elections.

The initiative is sequel to an initial contact and a first follow-up action made to all political parties in respect of a proposed dialogue with the Presidential candidates.

The objective of the meeting is to engage the contestants for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a non-partisan, ICT industry-related discussion with ICT processionals to decipher what they can realistically expect should they win the 2011 election.

“We will like to impress that the meeting is not a debate among Presidential candidates and anticipate it will take place sometime in March in Lagos with further details of when and where to be announced when all plans are more definite,” said the group.

The group said the response from the affected candidates have been positive and few followup steps will fine-tune the plans.