This year’s information technology (IT) Professionals’ Assembly organized by the Computer Professionals (Registration Council Of Nigeria) will be examining the roles of IT Professionals in national development, the impediments in the way, and how the potentials of IT Professionals could be harnessed maximally for national development.
Alhaja Sekinat Yusuf, CPN’s president, speaking during a press conference in Lagos, said that the 2014 edition of the Assembly with the theme, “Harnessing the potentials of IT Professionals for National Development”, is scheduled to take place from Wednesday 18th to Thursday 19th June 2014 at Nicon Luxury, Garki, Abuja.
The assembly, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek learnt, is an exclusive networking event for senior and up-coming Information Technology (IT) decision makers, consultants, entrepreneurs, practitioners, teachers, students, systems administrators and other interested members of the public.
On the rationale for the assembly, Yusuf said that the development of any nation is usually measured by the degree and extent of the socio-cultural, economic and political improvements that are brought to bear through the enterprises of information technology.
She said, “There is no gainsaying that the present world order is one strictly ruled by the power of information. There is a direct link between a nation’s material prosperity and that of her information-wealth. There is no doubt, therefore, that Information Technology is the vital resource which provides impetus for a nation’s technological advancement. The impact of Information Technology has continued to manifest in our closets [the home], education and training, health, defense and security, finance and commerce, the industry and in the office, the impact of information technology is inescapably manifest”.
Speaking, specifically on the 2014 IT Assembly, the CPN President said, “This year’s assembly is unique in many ways: it is issue-based and topic-focused. We are doing so many things differently this year. There will be no parallel sessions this year. This is to enable all attendees participate fully in all the plenary sessions. During the various plenary sessions, we have decided to take on frontally some of our recurring national challenges with a view to proffering solutions to them using IT.
“We believe that it is time the Country begins to take advantage of its vast resources and enormous potentials in IT to address daunting national challenges. This will be done in a coordinated and structured pattern which is provided for by the opportunity of the assembly. This will be done through paper presentations by some of the best professionals in the industry. These presentations will then be discussed by another set of thorough-bred professionals with a view to aggregating all ideas and opinions into a workable and realizable blueprint.
“To further ensure that we achieve the theme of this year’s assembly, we have also decided to compare notes with the British approach”.
The keynote address for this year’s assembly will be delivered by Prof. Liz Bacon, president, British Computer Society.
She said that the essence is to ensure that CPN’s approach to tackling national challenges will yield desired results, going by the experience of an informed foreign professional.
“It is our conviction also that where we have done well as a nation, we should acknowledge it. The Agricultural sector in this Country has done very well. And so in that spirit, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture will be given an opportunity to showcase its achievements in that sector. We believe there are enormous opportunities and potentials in that sector.
“We also believe very strongly that there can be synergy between professionals in that sector and IT, so that the processes can be more efficient and cheaper. There will as usual be an interactive session after each presentation to enable participants ask questions and get answers,” Yusuf said.
She added that the assembly will also provide a platform for some of the industry’s 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.