Chidimma UCHEGBU
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has been awarded the ICT Gold Merit Award by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) in recognition of the Fund’s contributions to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country, such as the Thesis Digitization Project embarked upon by the agency for the creation of institutional research repositories.
The award was presented to the Fund at the 2022 National Information Technology Merit Award (NITMA) held recently in Lagos.
Speaking at the ceremony, the President of NCS, Professor Adesina Sodiya stated that NITMA is an event organized by the Society to recognize and celebrate excellence and commitment in Information Technology (IT) profession.
Professor Sodiya further stated that the advocacy efforts of NCS, which is geared towards achieving sustainable development in the country will be incomplete without recognition of excellence and exceptional professionals who have made a significant impact in the industry; adding that those conferred with different categories of awards were carefully selected.
He assured that NCS as the national platform for the advancement of Information Technology practice in Nigeria will continue to strive for greater heights.
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono expressed profound appreciation to NCS for the award, stating that the Fund remains committed to supporting the development of ICT across public tertiary educational institutions in the country.
Arc. Echono described ICT as one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country and proof of this is the steady growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the last seven years which is tied to ICT development.
The Executive Secretary also emphasized that ICT is the hub of the youth and therefore could be used as a tool to expose young people to educational opportunities and other opportunities for growth internationally.
He added that with Nigeria having one of the largest growing youth populations in the world, there is room for national development through technological advancement if, there is a will to invest in the development of the sector.
Arc Echono reiterated the Fund’s commitment to the development of ICT through investment in research programmes geared towards technological advancement and ultimately national development. This, he said, will be carried out through many streams such as providing ICT training for teaching and non-teaching staff of public tertiary educational institutions under the Academic Staff Training and Development and ICT Intervention programmes for increased digital literacy and overall efficiency.
In his message at the event, the Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who spoke through a Video Conferencing platform, stated that Information Technology has contributed immensely to the development of the country through various government policy implementations, adding that Nigeria could achieve economic prosperity and become a developed nation through investment in ICT development.
Other awardees at the event included Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State who won IT Governor of the Year.
