Stakeholders highlight benefits of ICT to academia

The General Chair, Application of ICT to Teaching, Research and Administration (AICCTRA), Dr Ayodeji Oluwatope, has highlighted the benefits of ICT to education, stating that the organisation, in the past ten years had been able to bring to bear the interaction between the academia and the ICT industry.

He stated this at the 10th AICTTRA International Conference on ICT Applications, a three-day event which held from Tuesday, October 4th till Thursday, October 6th, 2016 at the Centre of Excellence in Software Engineering, OAU, Ile-Ife, Osun State, with the theme, “Towards National Security and Development – The ICT Perspective,” and featured experts and delegates from across the country, who had plenary discussions on security challenges and ICT as the solution and tool for educational and national development.

“We have been able to establish the fact that we can encourage and motivate colleagues to showcase their research output in the area of ICT in the last 10 years. We picked the theme because security is a major issue in the country at the moment, in terms of physical, health, job security, food security, among others. So, we want to look at the aspect of using ICT to address security challenges and to engender national development,” Oluwatope stated.

The keynote speaker, the Director, Information Technology and Media Services, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr Oluwaseyitanfunmi Osunade, in his view on how ICT has reshaped Nigeria, noted that “the first thing is to get knowledge and that has been consistent with AICTTRA over the past ten years, which is quite commendable. They have been able to focus on application within the teaching and learning environment where most academics are. However, there are challenges affecting the development of ICT but with time, these things will change.”

On his take on how government can use ICT to tackle security challenges, Dr Osunade recommended “unique identification for each person. For instance, in other countries, when you want to open a bank account, all you need is a government-issued identity card. In Nigeria, it’s a different ball game. However, once you’re able to uniquely identify a person, it is easy to trace criminals and that will solve a lot of problems as regards security challenges.”

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Classic Systems Infotech Limited, Mr Solomon Akporkpokpor, in his address, highlighted some achievements of ICT over the years to include human capital development through training in various areas to prepare people for leadership positions across the country and boost entrepreneurship skills among Nigerians.

Also present at the event were the acting Vice-Chancellor, OAU, Professor Anthony Elujoba, represented by the Dean, Faculty of Technology, OAU, Professor Banjamin Imasogie; OAU Head of Department, Computer Science and Engineering, Dr Odetunji Odejobi;  National President of Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Professor G.A. Aderounmu; Professor E.R. Adagunodo; Professor A.A. Adediran, among others.