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In an effort to mitigate quackery in Nigeria’s IT profession, the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) has inducted 550 new members.
The induction was held virtually yesterday durning the 2020 Virtual IT Professionals’ Assembly monitored in Abuja themed “Adoption of 5G in Nigeria: Technological and Regulatory Challenges”.
The 550 new inductees consisted of 410 Full members, 96 Associate members and 44 Corporate members.
However, the President/Chairman-in-Council of CPN, Prof. Charles Uwadia in his welcome address urged the inductees on the need to redefine IT practice in Nigeria.
According to him, IT profession is a noble one and it’s expected that members must abide by its ethics.
Uwadia also charged them make good use of the opportunity by channeling their energy and talents on positive things that would be of benefit to the various organizations they represent and the nation at large.
“You are all expected to make your contribution towards taking the profession to loftier heights. This is because the growth of the profession will impact positively on the nation and the vision of the Federal Government as encapsulated in the Change Agenda of the Federal Government.
“Given that you are new entrants into the flourishing world of Information Technology (IT), I do not want to take anything for granted regarding your knowledge of the profession.
He reiterated that the Council will continue to should work in line with the functions and responsibilities of CPN, which are not limited to determine the standards of knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the computing profession and improve those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit.
And, “To secure, in accordance with the provision of the Act, the establishment and maintenance of a register of persons seeking to be registered under the Act to practice the computing profession and the publication from time to time of the list of such persons”.
Speaking further, Uwadia decried the alarming and growing presence of quackery in IT profession in Nigeria. He therefore urged newly inductees on join forces to fight against the spread and acceptance in the sector.
“One of the greatest challenges facing our profession is quackery.
“By the nature of the profession, which makes it possible for a lot of people to use IT tools in their day to day activities, some people are claiming to be what they are not. Also, those who are not qualified to execute IT jobs are the ones getting it.
“This is quite absurd and unacceptable to us. Therefore, as professionals, you need to join forces with us in fighting the scourge.
Uwadia also stated that members had diverse benefits to enjoy but were required to be registered and licensed to operate legally.
He reiterated that regulating the profession was paramount to ensure that the sector generated the expected income to the economy of the nation.
The CPN President added that the council had developed a professional programme package that would enable members update their knowledge, skills and encouraged them to leverage the platform.
He said that the Council places high premium on ethical conduct of the professionals.
“We are conscious of the impact that the use of computational machinery and related techniques have on the public, employers, clients and the professionals.
“This is what informed the introduction of Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. The document details the standards of conduct that are expected from professionals in the Information Technology industry, similar to what obtains in other professions.
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“While Council will protect you in matters that infringe on your rights as members of this noble profession, I want to urge you all to play your role by conducting yourselves in the most ethical manner befitting of a professional in your daily activities”,Uwadia addressed.
In his induction lecture, focused on ‘Business of Professionalism’, the Chief Executive Officer of Aflon Digital Institute, Nigeria, Dr Akin Fapohunda said the obligation of members is to transform the society and must see themselves as change agents.
“It’s required of IT professionals to be committed to the development of the profession while embracing new knowledge such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, data science, amongst others.
“Entrepreneurship is the pathway for creating impact professionally,” Fapohunda told the inductees.
“You need to be creative in solving problems, develop new skills in spite of age because there is no barrier to learning.
“You need to develop entrepreneurship skills because it is the pathway for making impact and that will lead to the need to address power challenge in your organisations,” he said.
He also said that COVID-19 had exposed the need to build the skills of teachers on e-learning, saying that IT professionals were saddled with the responsibility of championing online teachers’ ability on tutoring.
On his part, Prof. Adesina Sodiya, Chairman, Registration and Regulatory Committee of the CPN, said that IT profession was most challenging globally because it was change-driven and cut across all sectors of economy.
Sodiya noted that nations of the worldcommitted huge resources into IT so as to impact lives of citizens, hence the need for members to acknowledge that and respect the ideology of the profession.
According to him, the growth of the profession will impact the whole nation and ensure that the transformation agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari is achieved.
He added that the inductees should be good ambassadors of the profession in their individual businesses and organisations because the council had in place mechanism to monitor and penalise violating members.
Mr Etemi Joshua, a new IT professional inductee, on behalf other members, congratulated the council, while pledging to play their role to the development of IT profession in the country.
