The Federal Government has ordered the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN), to crackdown on all individuals and corporate organisations practicing Information and Technology in Nigeria without due registration with CPN.

Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu who gave the directive on Wednesday in Abuja while declaring open the 2024 edition of the Information Technology Professionals’ Assembly which is the 18th edition in the series, said the Council has the support of the Ministry of Education to sanitize the IT sub-sector.

The directive came just as the CPN is set to induct more than 400 new members into the IT Profession on Thursday.

Sununu expressed concern about the quackery in the IT profession and urged CPN to exterminate quacks and undesirable elements from making incursions into the profession as is the practice in all other professions across the globe.

He said: “Your efforts at eliminating quackery in the profession through the registration of individuals and corporate organizations that are practicing Information Technology have not been unnoticed.

“The Federal Ministry of Education is conscious of your efforts at enforcing the Act that established CPN by making it mandatory for all individuals and corporate organizations that are practicing Information Technology in Nigeria to be duly registered with CPN.

“The global practice is for professionals to regulate their profession properly to exterminate quacks and undesirable elements from making incursions into the profession. That is the practice all over the world and we are in total support of this.

“Therefore, all Individuals and Corporate organizations that are into Information Technology practice should register with Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria) to allow for effective regulation of computer education and practice in Nigeria,” he added.

The Minister described the theme for this year’s IT Assembly, “Artificial Intelligence: An Enabler for Economic Transformation & Sustainable Development” as timely and apt.

He said the Federal Government recognises IT as a veritable tool for actualizing the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration, saying the country stands on the tip of a new era, characterized by rapid technological advancements, and that it is the collective responsibility to harness the transformative power of information technology to accelerate the nation’s development and position Nigeria at the forefront of the global digital discourse.

President/Chairman of Council of CPN, Mr Kole Jagun, on his part, explained that the annual CPN Information Technology Professionals’ Assembly, one of the flagship programmes, is a yearly gathering of Information Technology practitioners in Nigeria and Diaspora with the objective of discussing and strategizing on emerging issues in Information Technology.

He disclosed that as part of the highlight of the IT Professionals Assembly, a little over 400 new members would be inducted into the profession on Thursday.

Jagun noted that IT profession has evolved and must take the centre stage of national development, insisting that it should not only exist as a potential, but rather as an integral part of national development with strict compliance to international best practices.

He said drawing on the global, regional, national, and sub-national experiences, the 2024 IT Professionals’ Assembly would highlight the opportunities and challenges of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive the economy of the nation.

“We envisaged that in the years to come, Nigeria shall be a nation that has fully leveraged on, and harnessed the potential AI for good governance for the benefit of her economy and the people,” he said. (Nigerian Tribune)

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