These are very interesting times I must say and in my humble opinion, the technology industry has experienced and is still experiencing a form of disruption that is quietly rewriting the old order.
I decided to write this piece against the backdrop of a recent comment attributed to the President of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria, Prof. Vincent Asor, who was quoted by various reports as saying that the CPN, during his tenure, will deal with quacks in the IT industry as there will be no hiding place for them.
Asor was reported to have said, “By the nature of the profession, which makes it possible for a lot of people to use IT tools in their day to day operations, some people are now claiming to be what they are not. Also, those who are not qualified to execute IT jobs are the ones getting it. This is quite absurd and unacceptable to us. Therefore, as professionals, you have to join forces with us in fighting the scourge.”
When the idea to write a piece on this burning topic struck me, I first decided to check out a blog post I had seen a few days earlier written by Don Caprio of geek.ng titled “The Dinosaurs of Nigeria’s Information Technology are the worst.”
It was an interesting read for me. It showed that the statement did not go down well with a number of young techies (including yours truly) who are trying so hard, against all odds, to add value through and with technology.
After reading Caprio’s passionate post, I decided to comment on his blog for the very first time and all I asked was, would you be willing to discuss this issue on Tech Trends? He replied, “yes”, and that is one chat I cannot wait to have.
Permit me to share an excerpt of his post that I personally find most interesting with you, which is; “Instead of this man to seek the legislature to amend this repressive law, he is quoting an Act that was made 23 years ago.
He goes further, “Is this the kind of leadership that would advance Information Technology? By CPN’s definition, Bill Gates is a ‘quack’ Mark Zuckerberg was not a professional when he started Facebook and for sure, he is a ‘quack’ too by that definition. Come to think of it, where were these so-called professionals when the ‘quacks’ practicing IT in Nigeria developed our beloved Computer Village in Ikeja to become the mega IT business hub it is today?” — Finish Reading on the Punch Website
