Asaba to host NCS confab

The capital city of Delta State, Asaba, is to host the 2010 edition of the Nigeria Computer Society’s (NCS) annual general meeting and conference which comes up in July.

National President, NCS, Prof. Charles Uwadia, made this known in Lagos in a session with newsmen, saying that arrangements have reached advanced stage to make the events fruitful.

He also said that the events have been planned in a way that both Asaba and Warri, the business hub of the Delta State have some activities throughout the five-day event, with the theme “Realising a stable democratic political system in Nigeria: IT
Tools & Strategies (RESDEMIT-2010).”

He said that this year’s conference is significant in several ways, especially at a time the country will be marking 50th years of nationhood and as preparation for next year’s general election gathers momentum.

According to him, the focus of this year’s conference scheduled to hold at Grand Hotel, Asaba, is on democratic political system in the country.

“It’s a natural progression of the focus of NCS in bringing attention to the potentials of IT as tools for socio-economic development of the nation” he said.

Uwadia noted that there are nine sub-themes for 2010 conference including the “Effective people awareness and engagement of the political process – IT as catalyst; Assuring the integrity of the electoral process through automation;
e-payment: A Building Block for Accountability and Transparency in Government; Electorate Funding and Bonding with Candidates – IT Tools and Strategies; Efficient, Effective and Just Judicial System - The Law, Society, and Information Technology; Effective Election Information Management System; IT - An Indispensable Tool for Election Monitoring & Observation; IT as a Conflict Management Tool - Niger Delta in Focus; and Bridging the Gender Gap in the Political Process – IT to the Rescue.

NCS boss explained that the choice of Delta State to host the conference was informed by a number of factors, recollecting that Delta State hosted the first retreat organised by the NCS and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2008, on how IT could be deployed to enhance the integrity and transparency of the electoral process.

Pointing out that one of the sub-themes is on IT as a Conflict Management Tool - Niger Delta in Focus, expressing the belief that Delta State is a natural choice for this and related conversations.

“We are happy to mention that Delta State has graciously agreed to host the conference. Of course, our traditional supporters and partners such as Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, NITDA have also expressed their support,” he declared.

Uwadia also said that there are few other improvements to expect in various areas of the conference, especially programme content and logistics management.

“I thought I should emphasise is the Doctoral Consortium,” he said, stressing that the research consortium on Information technology innovations is aimed at bringing together young and experienced researchers in computer science to discuss research ideas in IT related fields.

“It is specially designed to provide opportunity for graduate students of computer science to showcase their on-going research work and network with their peers from various higher institutions all over the world as well as senior researchers and experienced researchers who will be invited to discuss their ongoing work and serve as mentors to young researchers,” Uwadia said.

He highlighted that the consortium will address such issues as research methodology, grant proposal writing tips and methods, research networking and collaboration, among others.

The consortium, he said, is a partnership with an international organisation with focus on technology and development, thus is expected to build capacity of NCS members in the academia and support the National Universities Commission (NUC) programme of boosting the number of lecturers with PhD in the nation’s universities.

“It is also one of the initiatives designed to increase the bouquet of values and benefits of participation in the NCS conference,” he said.

Therefore, he said that calls for papers and reviewers have been issued, just as calls for general papers, some institutions are also expected to present special papers in order to enrich the discourse at the conference and bring real-life and practical situations under focus to complement the theoretical frameworks that are usually the focus of the academic papers.

“This approach, we hope, will provide an interface between our institutions and the industry that will benefit all,” he said.

Prof. Uwadia was accompanied at the briefing by chairman, Conferences, Mr. Salisu Afolabi, chairman, Publicity, Events and Trade Services, Mr. Tajudeen Ejalonibu, and Executive Secretary, NCS, Mr. Ejide Oladunmoye.


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