By Emeka Aginam

Ahead of its maiden edition of Computer Science / Information Technology Research and Development workshop slated for next month in Lagos, the Nigerian Computer Society has condenmed the Federal Government under-investment in research and development, a situation it said was not good for the economy.

The President of NCS, Sir Demola Aladekomo in a statement recently said that research must be an essential element for Nigeria to use technology and innovation to respond to socio-economic challenges.

According to the NCS President, there was the need for the country to address the key challenges in the nation’s research environment with a view to improving R&D performance and contribution to national development agenda.

With this, he said that  NCS was rising to the occasion through its maiden edition of Computer Science / Information Technology Research and Development workshop series  holding at the University of Lagos, next month.

The main objective of the workshop, he said is  to build collaborative, purposeful and rigorous research effort towards national development.

Exposure to modern Computer Science/IT research methodologies and tools; exposure to grants for those seeking proposal writing techniques; information about grants, fellowships and scholarships; mentorship and formation of research groups will form major activities of the workshop series.

According to him, the workshop would, among other things  give participants the opportunity to form research collaboration and provide rooms for interactions among IT professionals.

Other benefits, according to him, include creation of opportunities for interactions between the industry and academia; interaction between IT professionals and government and opportunity for exhibition of research outputs.

He said that activities at the workshop will be geared towards ensuring contribution to building an innovative economy that all Nigerians will benefit from.

He said that veteran IT research consultants and capacity development builders, who have led many seminars/workshops in Nigeria and abroad, would be on ground to teach the participants.

Some of the key   facilitators at the event will include  Prof. Zachariah Tanko of the Champlain College, Burlington, VT., United States; Dr. Richard Boateng of the International Centre for Information Technology and Development, Southern University, Baton Rouge, US; Prof. Charles Uwadia of the Centre for Information Technology & Systems, University of Lagos, Nigeria; and Prof. Sola Aderounmu of the Information Technology & Communication Unit, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, among others.