Aladekomo urges FBN to reclaim role in NCS, plans 1m jobs

President, Nigeria Computer Society, Mr. Demola Aladekomo has urged the management of FirstBank Nigeria (FBN) plc to reclaim its roles in the affairs of Information Technology (IT) development of the country by retaining its active role in the organisation.

This is coming as NCS said its targeting at creating, at least 1 million Information Technology (IT)-related jobs in line with the Federal Government agenda.

He made this call during a courtesy visit of his leadership team to the group managing director, FBN, Mr. Olabisi Onasanya in Lagos.

Aladekomo in accompany of Mr. Kayode Sobajo, Managing Director, HiiT Plc, Mr. Jide Awe, chairman publicity, NCS, and Mr. Abiodun Adesanya, Managing Director, Contact Solutions Ltd said NCS would like to partner FBN on a number of projects capable of making better the employment opportunities for Nigerians.

“We would be very much interested in partnering with you towards putting this country firmly in the global IT map to our mutual benefit,” he declared.

According to him, there are a few critical issues that NCS would like to lay emphasis on immediately including employment and intervention funding.

This, he said, if fully utilised the IT industry could put more people to work than a combination of three or four different sectors of the economy combined.

“What we require is leadership and partnership with NCS in this critical area that may spell doom for our country if not urgently tackled,” he urged.

NCS, he said, intends to work with the Federal Government towards creating, conservatively, 1 million IT-related jobs within the next five years.

Key areas of focus towards achieving this goal, he said, are business process automation, call centre operation, health care delivery, emergency and disaster response systems, software development, incubation and knowledge park development to mention a few.

NCS, Aladekomo said, recognises and commends the recent E-Payment Cashless programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This project, he said, has the capability of generating about 50,000 IT-related jobs within the next six months.

“We expect this programme to generate another 250,000 IT related jobs by the end of 2012,” he said, adding that it is not nuclear science, when NCS expressed its readiness to create 1m IT-related jobs.

He maintained that 1m IT-related jobs could be realised within five years if a third of it is already being created just by the right policies within months.

He noted that there was a time that First Bank was a major partner and corporate member of NCS and they believe the time has come again for the bank to reclaim this leadership role.

“With our recent achievements of getting our CPN Act passed, having NITDA established and Ministry of Communications Technology established, we say now is the time to fully reactivate your corporate membership,” he said.

Remmy Nweke
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