IT firms to incorporate via NCS

NCS awards nite-06: L-R CPN president, Prof. (Mrs) Adenike Osofisan, NCS president, Dr. Chris Nwannenna and chairman of the occasion and Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe at the event. Photo: Remmy Nweke
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Hard times await new entrants into the nation’s Information Technology (IT) market, as they now have to first join the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) before proceeding to incorporate their companies at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

CAC is the federal government’s agency in charge of company registrations and allied matters. What this entails is that CAC would probably request NCS’ endorsement before incorporating computer related companies in the country, be it hardware or software.

President, Computer Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) and associate professor at the University of Ibadan, (Mrs) Adenike Osofisan, gave this signal at this year’s annual Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) award held in Lagos.

Prof. Osofisan in her goodwill message to the event urged IT companies in the country to ensure that they belong to NCS in order to optimise their presence not only in the country, but also in the industry.

She said that they should be wary of the new guideline that makes it compulsory for them to register with NCS before they could be registered as a computer firm in the country.

She also enjoined members of the society to remain steadfast in their contributions to the growth of the country.

According to her CPN and NCS has grown to become inseparable and promised that they would continue in that stead for the benefit of the nation and the industry specifically.

Noting that for anybody to aspire to be a member of CPN, “you have to first of all belong to NCS.”

She pointed out that while NCS is the umbrella body of Nigerian IT professionals, CPN is the regulatory body of its members’ and related activities.

Established by Decree No 49 of 1993, CPN has the mandate to advance the knowledge of computer science, use of computational machinery and techniques related thereof, including the responsibility to control and supervise the profession and determine what standards of knowledge and skills attainable by persons seeking to be members of the profession and improving those standards as at when due or deem appropriate.

Also, CPN is to secure in accordance with provisions establishing it and maintain a register of persons seeking to be registered to practice the profession and publicize the list intermittently.

The council equally has the power to accredit institutions for the purpose of offering courses approved by council as meeting standards and approve courses that meet its standards.

In addition, CPN, which was inaugurated since Friday, March 31, 1995, has the mandate to accredit institutions offering computer science courses and conduct professional examinations as well as award relevant certificates, among others.

However, the Decree makes it illegal for any person either acting as an individual or corporate, who is not registered by CPN and does not hold a valid current license to engage himself in the practice of computing and hold himself out to the public as a member of the profession.

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