Nigeria's Special Advisers on ICT to converge for NITDEL

COMPUTING

The Special Advisers on ICT from 13 states will lead delegations to this year’s NITDEL conference in Lagos.

The Nigerian Telecom Development lecture (NITDEL), has been staged annually since 2006.

The event has attracted many notable speakers from within and outside the Nigerian business and political class, it has enjoyed intellectual contributions of such juggernauts and heavy weights like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Africa's most prized intellectual, Prof. Molefi Kete Asante,world's most respected professor of African history, a man said to have published more books than anyone else on African history, our own cleric philosopher, Fr. Mathew KUKAH, Aig Imhokuede, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Donald Duke,Babatunde Raji Fashola, Ernest Ndukwe, Marvel Akpoyibo and a host of others.

NITDEL was moderated in 2008 by the duo of Dele Momodu, the Ovation publisher and Reuben Abati, the chief spokesman to the president of Nigeria, while in 2009, it was Prof. Sola Fajana, who is now the Vice Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, that moderated the event.

This year's edition promises to host the executive Governor of Kwara State, Alh. Abdulfatah Ahmed and a telecom expert, Dr. Bashir Gwandu, an executive commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) who shall be looking at ICT in Governance and the entire telecom market respectively.

This year, the organisers, Logica Media Group, have extended an invitation to State Government's ICT departments to come as contingents for the lecture.

According to the Managing Director of the company, Yinka Oguntoyinbo, over 15 states have been invited and have already confirmed 13 among them.

The Special Advisers on ICT to the Governors of 13 states have confirmed their willingness to lead a delegation of five members of the state's ICT team to the lectures. The states include Kwara, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Edo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Ekiti, Delta,Lagos and Oyo.

In the same vein, the chairman of the company and Publisher of The Nigerian Telecoms News, an ICT publication, Otunba Biodun Ajiboye,disclosed further that, all the facets of the Nigerian society have virtually been invited, from the police, to the navy, army, customs, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria,(ALGON) down to the Market Women Association.

When asked why the wide gamut of interest, he said the delegates form the nucleus of the telecom stakeholders’ community, and there is a need to assess the value of the contribution of the industry at this point.

He said: “We are moving onto another decade in this industry, there seems to be some issues with the operational environment that require serious discussion, which is one of the primary reasons why the topic, ‘The Nigerian Telecom industry: prospects and dilemma’ was chosen.

The event is scheduled to be held on 7 September in Lagos.