•To examine role of tech in security at conference

THOUGH, the federal government has stepped up fights against terrorism in the country, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), has called on it to complement the effort with full deployment of Information Technology solutions across the country.

The NCS is the umbrella organisation of all IT professionals, interest groups and stakeholders in Nigeria.

Sighting how technology aided the U.S.A to nab the Boston bomber suspect recently, the President of NCS, Mr. Demola Aladekomo said that with security technology deployment, such as CCTV positioned across the country strategically; the fight against terror would be mitigated.

Aladekomo added that the protection of lives and properties remained a major task for any government, stressing that all over the world, no nation was excluded from the challenges of insecurity, including murder, terrorism, armed robbery and others.

According to him, a more proactive IT led approach to combating the menace in the country was urgently needed, saying that NCS was ready to champion the course.

He recalled that for some time now, the society among other agencies  had canvassed for the use of ICT tools in resolving the challenge of insecurity in the country.

Aladekomo, who is also the chairman of Chams Group, called on government to engage members of NCS towards contributing to resolving the menace.

While appreciating the National Council of State, which he said had also raised the need to stem the insecurity tide in the country with ICT, Aladekomo said that government response must be spontaneous if the fight must be definite.

The NCS president stressed that the issue of security and technology would be discussed at length at this year’s conference of the society scheduled for 24th to 27th of July 2013 at Iloko Ijesa, Osun State, Nigeria. The theme of the conference is “e-Government and National Security”.

According to him, one way to describe e-government is the application of ICT to strengthen governance – the use of ICTs in the operations and performance improvement of public sector organisations. He added that that meant the use of ICT to achieve better stakeholders’ engagement.

“When carefully designed and diligently implemented, e-government tackles the problems of poverty, disease, unemployment and hunger. e-government strategies that works facilitate both public sector and private sector development,” he stated.

Tackling the issue of insecurity head long, Aladekomo said that government must also intensify its efforts in creating jobs, stressing that the increasing unemployment gaps in the country was also a major factor in youth restiveness.

According to him, the Oshogbo scheduled conference would also look at ways jobs could be created to bridge the gap.

Aladekomo, who restated that IT was capable of creating one million jobs in the next five years, stressed that NCS was committed towards helping government bridge the unemployment gap in the country.

Commenting on IT and job creation, the NCS president said that the Central Bank of Nigeria led cash-less economy initiative  had proven that technology could significantly reduce unemployment.

According to him, about 150,000 people have been employed through the deployment of about 180,000 Point of Sales (PoS) terminals and about 18,000 ATMs within the last one and half years.

Aladekomo was optimistic that the cashless economy initiative would employ another  200, 000 people in the next two years.

Besides, he said stressed that patronage of locally made Nigerian goods would also create rooms for increased job creation. He urged the federal government to also improve on the present infrastructure in the country, saying that the decay and dearth of infrastructure was fast becoming a major challenge.

Aladekomo, who canvassed institutional framework to bridge infrastructure gap in Nigeria, informed that NCS was currently working with the National Planning Commission in steering the IT 30 year infrastructure plan for the country, adding that the report would be submitted to government by August. He equally informed that NCS was currently working with some agencies of government in implementing a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for the country, which was a basic infrastructure in fighting crimes, including cybercrimes among others. He added that PKI would help in reducing crimes involving telephony and even PCs.

Meanwhile, dignitaries expected at the conference, according to Aladekomo included the President/Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo; President of the Senate, David Mark, Secretary to Government of the Federation, Mr. Ayim Pius Ayim, Head of Service, Alhaji Buka Aji, members of the Federal Executive Council, state governors, legislators, both at the federal and state levels and the general public.

For the immediate past president of NCS, Prof. Charles Uwadie, the issue of terrorism is a multifaceted one, but he isoptimistic that government would win the fight.

Uwadie said that looking at what happened in other climes where terrorism thrives, it had been identified that these challenges had social dimensions, economic, political, “and for us here, the technology space is one area, which we must look at critically in solving the challenge.”

According to him, the Boston bombings suspect was nabbed with sophisticated technologies, this he said Nigeria must also emulate if it must win the fight against terror.

He also appealed to the federal government to improve the education sector, creates employment opportunities and an enabling business and political  environment.