The speech delivered by Hon. Adekoya Adesegun Abdel-Majid, Member House of Representatives at the Nigeria Computer Society 2015, Ogun IT Award/ Investiture ceremony held in Abeokuta on January 30, 2015.
Excerpts below:
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I am delighted to be invited as the chairman of this special event, let me therefore thank the organisers for giving me the singular honour and privilege.
The theme of the lecture “Revitalising the Leadership in IT Profession” present an opportunity to deeply reflect on identified challenges of 21st century leadership in the Information Technology profession. These include rapidly changing technology, shrinking budgets, policy and legislative changes, globalization, private sector competition and much more.
It also offers a golden opportunity for critical assessment of the practitioner roles in nation building viz-a-viz contributions to economy and GDP through highly productive economic activities of the profession. To this effect, the contributions of highly cerebral resource person that had been carefully chosen to deliver the lecture shall be of maximum benefit to every participant who cares to drink from the fountain of knowledge that will be provided at this forum. In the overall interest of our gathering here, I’m of the opinion that occasions like this will provide an outlook for the future in a way that would guarantee our continued relevance in a deeply competitive global market.
In practical terms, and because of the shortcomings of our contemporary society, it becomes highly imperative to continue to meet at forum like this to share from individuals and groups wisdom for constructive development in our different areas of specialisation in wider perspective. This gathering from all intents and purposes is in good direction, well thought-off by the organisers and I’m confident that it would produce desired results.
Having said that let me briefly and succinctly remark that leaders in IT profession must have the talents, efficient qualities, right perspectives including entrepreneurial skills to support the institution’s goals and strategic directions in order to respond to the business drivers in the industry. They must in addition be aware of trends in the IT field as well as possessing required excellent communication and organizational skills to drive the profession to a greater height. Let me therefore say that effective IT leaders must understand the nature of the business, the style and context in which decisions are made, and the technology employed for optimum services.
Please permit me through this medium to call on Government and Proprietors of Educational Institutions that basic knowledge in Computer and IT skills should be an added entry requirement for recruitment of teachers in our Schools. This is because in my opinion, teaching and learning has gone beyond chalk, board and talk process. I also want to use this opportunity to inspire those of us in privileged positions at all levels that we should be bold to offer advices and suggestions to the Government on how to win its current war on corruption.
We should therefore within the legal frameworks and professional services begin to demonstrate high level of commitment to financial discipline and strong-will to protect individuals and corporate organisations’ resources, ensure that public funds and those of the investors are not mismanaged for government, Corporate Organisations and individual economic programmes to remain on course with maximum commitments from citizens and stakeholders. These are best ways we can all remain in productive business and partners in our nation building.
While I wish the participants very fruitful deliberations, I congratulate the organizers for a job well-done.
Hon. Adekoya Adesegun Abdel-Majid
Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Land Transport,
Member, House Committee on Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
