CPN: Nigeria plans clampdown on IT 'quacks' amid N4.5b annual revenue leaks - Technology Times

The Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) says that over N4.5 billion is lost annually to 'quack' practitioners in the nation's information technology (IT) industry, amid imminent clampdown by the industry watchdog. [caption id="attachment_43833" align="alignleft" width="412"] Professor Vincent Asor, President and Chairman of CPN, says tough times ahead for IT 'quacks' in Nigeria. Photo credit: mouauportal.edu.ng[/caption] CPN, body responsible for registration and monitoring of IT practitioners in Nigeria says it is planning enforcement actions against 'quack' IT industry players because the "monumental loss of revenue" by Nigerians could have been put to better use in the economy. [quote font="georgia" font_size="22" font_style="italic" align="right" arrow="yes"]“Quackery has been the bane of IT practice in Nigeria. Quackery is worrisome. I want to re-emphasise that quackery in IT must stop. Enough is enough. Government says they are broke. CPN can raise billions of Naira to the government annually”, Asor says adding that the watchdog will fish out, arrest and charge anybody practicing IT without registering with the Council to court.[/quote] Professor Vincent Asor, President and Chairman of CPN, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Lagos, says the situation where IT practitioners fail to register with the Council amounts to monumental loss of revenue to government. Such revenue could be channeled to national projects, at a time when government is ''broke'', he adds. According to him, CPN alone could generate over N4.5 billion for government yearly, “if only government could summon up the courage to disengage all IT practitioners in government that are not registered with CPN.” He condemned what he calls "quackery" in the Nigerian IT practice in clear terms and says that government is losing revenues annually through non-accreditation and quackery in IT practice. “Quackery has been the bane of IT practice in Nigeria. Quackery is worrisome. I want to re-emphasise that quackery in IT must stop. Enough is enough. Government says they are broke. CPN can raise billions of Naira to the government annually”, Asor says adding that the watchdog will fish out, arrest and charge anybody practicing IT without registering with the Council to court. According to him, “we have more than 100,000 IT professionals in the country with less than N10, 000 annual fees for individuals. We also have about 20,000 corporate IT professionals with N150, 000 annual fees. There is no reason we cannot raise the said amount if all the IT professionals registers with the CPN." The CPN chief says that “this Council can support the government with this amount without moving out of the office. It is time the government wakes up. IT is open for everybody in the information highway but it must be regulated accordingly. If people are registered accordingly, cyber crime will reduce to the barest minimum and we will make money for the government.” [caption id="attachment_28027" align="alignright" width="564"] President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria[/caption] [quote font="georgia" font_size="22" font_style="italic" align="left" arrow="yes"]The CPN chief says that “this Council can support the government with this amount without moving out of the office. It is time the government wakes up. IT is open for everybody in the information highway but it must be regulated accordingly. If people are registered accordingly, cyber crime will reduce to the barest minimum and we will make money for the government.”[/quote]It is no longer business as usual for quacks in IT practice, the CPN President says while disclosing that the regulation and enforcement unit of the body is out for enforcement. Until this is done, quackery will remain unabated, Asor says. According to the CPN head, "as the regulatory authority in IT education and practice in Nigeria, the Council’s mandate is to provide a regulated and standard-driven environment for IT education and practice in Nigeria such that the socio-economic development is engendered.” CPN is also empowered by law to determine the standards of knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the computing profession and improve those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit, the watchdog chief says. “This means that we are in charge of accreditation for courses that will churn out professionals in IT practice. This is without loss of generality to National Universities Commission (NUC). Today, how many universities have CPN accreditation? The CPN Act is clear about it. We have written to the universities but the response is slow. Very slow. In fact, some universities wrote back challenging our authority to so act", according to the university don and head of CPN. “They don’t understand where the line is drawn between NUC and CPN. We have explained and most of them are still adamant. Less than 3% of over 150 universities have responded. The NUC is not to determine the standard of knowledge and skills to practice the IT profession. CPN does. They do not want to pay accreditation charges of one million, one hundred thousand naira (N1, 100, 000), a charge paid once every five years for universities that pass the accreditation hurdles. This money belongs to government. But government is losing it. This is a quackery challenge in the Ivory Tower”, the CPN President says. Mr. Idowu Olusile, Acting Registrar and Secretary to the Council of CPN who explains more on enforcement plans says that sensitisation is now complete and the Council shall begin enforcement immediately. For him, this is "action time" to claim the CPN mandate and also support government to realise the reasons for the Council’s establishment.

CPN: Nigeria plans clampdown on IT ‘quacks’ amid N4.5b annual revenue leaks

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