President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been advised to liaise with the Information Technology (IT) body in the appointment of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
Professor Adesina Sodiya, President of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) gave the advice during a press briefing on Monday.
He said that NCS remain ready to work with Tinubu’s government on IT development. According to him, the country e-Government solutions must not be overlooked as it will help the government achieve its aims and objectives, especially in curbing wastage of the nation’s meagre resources.
The NCS President said it was no-brainer that full implementation of IT adoption in governance will further drive Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda.
In his words:
“NCS is appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider the appointment of a 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 the promise.
“As an advocacy body, NCS has been championing IT development in 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 professionals as Minister of Communication and Digital Economy who is a members of NCS to drive IT development in Nigeria.
“We also want 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.
Prof. Adesina 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 said that the next Minister of Communications and Digital Economy should 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 said.
He also noted that appointment of heads for IT related government Departments and Agencies should follow the same criteria of professionalism.
This, he said, will help checkmate the recurrence of failed IT projects in government MDAs, while giving confidence to the civil servants to serve with diligence.
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