NITDA to Host Session on IT Policy at NCS Conference

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), under the leadership of Peter Olu Jack, the newly appointed director general, will host a plenary session during the 2014 Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) Conference.

The 25th National Conference of NCS takes place in Enugu, Enugu State from 23rd to 25th of July 2014. Conference theme is “Building a Knowledge-Based Economy in Nigeria: The Role of Information Technology”.

In what will be a major outing, the agency responsible for fostering the development and growth of IT in Nigeria, will use the session to focus on “NITDA’s Initiative on IT Policy for States of the Federation”.

To be highlighted during the session are issues, challenges and experiences of states that are working with NITDA to develop their IT policies.

In addition to IT policy formulation at the national level, NITDA intends to extend IT development to other tiers of government.

The policy development process is being championed in several Nigerian states in line with the National IT policy and special consideration of the priority areas of the states.

Information from NITDA indicates that the process has been implemented in three states under the first phase while NITDA is currently working with five states under the second phase.

According to Peter Jack, NITDA’s DG, “The intention is to extend this initiative to all the states of the federation in order to encourage them to position IT as the main driver of their priorities areas”.

Jide Awe, chairman, Publicity, Events and Trade Services of NCS, in deciding to host a plenary session during the NCS annual conference, NITDA intends to work with NCS to create an avenue that will serve as a platform for intellectual discourse to galvanize more input in order to enrich the quality of the NITDA initiative on IT Policy for states of the federation.

With track records of success, several key organizations such as NITDA annually leverage on this NCS platform to achieve organizational goals.

The multistakeholder event, the largest annual assembly of IT professionals and stakeholders in Nigeria, while facilitating the development of IT enabled solutions to national issues of concern, also enables key agencies in the public sector and private sector firms to explore strategic IT opportunities for enhanced relevance and effectiveness.

Well thought through IT policies at all levels are critical to developing a knowledge based economy.

To ensure the effective implementation of Nigeria’s IT policy, NITDA is the government agency that “regulates, monitors, evaluates, and verifies progress on an ongoing basis under the supervision and coordination of the Federal Ministry Communication Technology”.

NITDA’s desire to play active roles during NCS’s 2014 annual conference is therefore no surprise.

The special session is geared towards the advancement of NITDA‘s mandate. Practical demonstrations and sessions that address the real world issues of IT development in Nigeria in practical terms are the hallmark of NCS conferences.

NITDA’s mandate covers the development and regulation of the IT industry in Nigeria. A major strategy for effectively achieving NITDA’s mandate is collaboration with major stakeholders such as NCS, the leading professional association committed to advancing IT development in Nigeria and the interests of the IT industry and profession.

The focus of both NITDA and NCS is to employ the session to accelerate IT development in Nigeria. Conference attendees can expect to gain useful and unique insight on best practices, new practices, and emerging trends.