The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the umbrella body for all Information Technology (IT) professionals in Nigeria, has called on President Bola Ahmed Timubu, to liaise with NCS in the appointment of ministers and heads of boards of government parastatals, in order to get persons that are digitally savvy with core technology background, to drive Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda and national development.
The body specifically called on President Tinubu to work with NCS in the appointment of the next Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
President of NCS, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, made the call, while addressing journalists at the weekend during a webinar, organised by NCS.
Sodiya who eulogised President Tinubu for effectively using technology to drive governance when he was governor of Lagos State, advised him to also deploy technology in running the affairs of the country as President of Nigeria, adding that NCS will always support tTinubu’s administration in the area of IT adoption and IT deployment in governance.
He recommended the full implementation of IT adoption in governance in order to further drive Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, championed by previous governments.
Sodiya also called for the implementation of e-Governance strategy for Nigeria, which he said, was not fully implemented by previous governments.
“NCS is appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider the appointment of core IT professional as Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, when he will be appointing ministers into his cabinet. We need a core IT professional that is known to the Nigeria Computer Society, who is registered with the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) and who understands the Nigerian IT space in order to deliver on promise. As an advocacy body, NCS has been championing IT development of Nigeria in the past years, and we will continue to do so in the interest of Nigeria. NCS understands the kind of technology that Nigeria should adopt to drive national development, and we need core IT professional as Minister of Communication and Digital Economy who is a member of NCS to drive IT development in Nigeria. We also want the President Tinubu to consider core IT professionals as heads of the boards of IT related agencies of government and not politicians that are not technocrats,” Sodiya advised.
He also called on the new government to consider the development of IT skills in all government parastatals.
Addressing the issue of stakeholders’ collaboration in order to drive IT development, Sodiya advised the next Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to focus more on stakeholders’ collaboration and work in consonant with NCS and other industry stakeholders in policy formulation and implementation.
“We expect the next Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to partner industry stakeholders and engage with them in defining roadmaps in the area of IT development, and such engagement should be strategic and frequent,” Sodiya further advised.
