Where is your IT license to Practice in Nigeria?
It is brewing and there is a big battle in the land. The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) are fighting who has the mandate to license IT professionals and their companies in Nigeria. Yes, just like doctors and lawyers, we need to license IT professionals.
“The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says it will go ahead and begin the registration and licensing of information technology (IT) contractors despite the objection of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS)”
NITDA ambushed NCS, but NCS is fighting back. It sent a clear warning – get out, this is my domain. “The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has cautioned the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) over its plan to register and license all IT contractors in the country. NCS said it is not within the mandate of NITDA to do so because the agency is to promote the development of the industry through well thought out policy and programmes.”
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Do I smile or do I cry: Nigeria is a puzzle. Sure, licensing may be fine [I will vote No] if there is indeed a process which can help people deepen capabilities. My fear is that what would happen here is probably to ask people to pay a fee and that is it. What equipment do they have in government to test who is competent to do a job in IT? But hey, they may have surprises.
Have you made your payment? Get your license buddy; otherwise, very soon, it would be illegal to do IT in some places in Nigeria without one. A nation in motion!
The country is very good at producing comedians, rather than technocrats. Nigeria will still find a way to defy logic and put up a terrific show, in the name of administration or governance.
So NITDA has finished all the things in its mandate and it's now highly motivated and raring to go, to the point of registering IT contractors? And NCS now remembers its territory or domain, and therefore wants to protect it!
Can somebody tell these funny creatures that as it stands now, they are not adding any value to the IT growth in Nigeria, and therefore should look for one thick forest and hide there? We already have a lot of depressing situations to deal with as country, I do not see the reason why those clowns should bring the IT sector into that misery.