Ispon Seeks Establishment of National Software Board

Chris Uwaje, president, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (Ispon) has urged the federal government to urgently establish a National Software board to streamline software implementations by both the government and private sector with the aim of addressing corruption in the sector.

Uwaje decried the preference for foreign software by government agencies and organizations even when indigenous software are better, because of alleged financial gratification promised some of the officers in foreign currency.

He added that such board will be a central software knowledge clearing house for approval of all imported software into Nigeria, to determine their efficacy, quality, operational performance, functional analysis, suitability to Nigeria condition as well as national security evaluation.

“The board should determine the performance compliance of every software with respect to ISO:2000 standard on software, and ensure that they did not infringe with limitations that bother on national security,” he noted.

According to him, ‘the board should be able to determine if software to be imported could be developed locally by Nigerians and then make recommendations’.

Uwaje however cited the role of Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria in the moderation of accounting practice in the country especially with the adoption International Financial Reporting System (IFRS).

He noted that the world has transited into the knowledge cloud and information society, “new conditions are being defined and created for future economic (industrial) direction and creation of wealth. And indeed, the importance and critical nature of the theme of this conference: 'Software Strategies for Retooling the Workforce' further propels us to redefine the character of ICT Strategies, education for innovation, creativity, competitiveness and national reward system; and by extension, re-evaluate the e-Readiness status of our nation and future survivability. The world we live in, is now integrating economically into a single world-wide knowledge (wwk) and market space.  This essential aspect of the present globalization process is strongly encouraged by the availability of IT and its ability to multiply and populate knowledge and also eliminate distance at the speed of light”.

He stated that humanity has therefore, barely scratched the surface of the amazing potential of IT to improve the quality of life and education.

Universal access to education and training is vital for youths and individuals to achieve functional literacy, which will enable them to explore this potential.

Educational institutions and youths in particular, will have to face up to the challenges of facilitating lifelong learning, transforming education from the inculcation of information to instilling the skill of learning.