Work Resumes at NCS N500m Complex

Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has resumed work on its national secretariat project expected to gulp over N500 million when completed.

Christened ‘Innovation & Incubation Centre’, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications performed the groundbreaking on December 2015 with a projection that the building will be completed by the next 18 months.

Paucity of funds had delayed the commencement of work at the centre expected to drive technology and innovation in Nigeria.

According to Professor Sola Aderounmu, president of NCS, said that the project was conceived said there is the need to urgently setup an incubation/innovation centre to focus on addressing weak university-industry linkage.

He said: “These incubation/innovation centres are inadequate for Nigeria and could not provide jobs for millions of unemployed Nigerians. Furthermore, none of these centres focused on incubating ideas coming out of our universities. That is, the centre will precisely focus on taking ideas from the laboratory to the market place which allows for commercialization of university research.”

Speaking during Nigeria CommunicationsWeek’s visit to the project, Mr. Iyiola Ayoola, executive secretary of NCS said that the project was initiated in 2005 to serve as a bridge between the academia and the ICT industry in the country.

“When the incumbent president was inaugurated he listed three key agenda. He has actually vigorously pursued the agenda: advocacy, which has been massive; improved membership registration and the NCS physical (presence) which is refereed to having a structure on ground that can be identified with Society.