Experts who brainstormed at the ISPON Annual Conference in TINAPA last week were in agreement that the skills required to compete and succeed in a knowledge economy are complex and vastly different to those of the industrial age. The skills gap phenomenon, according to them, is more prominent in the ICT Profession and Industry and that explains why the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) puts itself at the Centre of the crusade to retool the workforce’.
Mr. Chris Uwaje, President ISPON had expressed a troubled mind on what seems to be anover-emphasis on telecommunications when he argued in a welcome address that the positioning and superlative prominence of telecommunications as the strategic and absolute development direction and instrument for Nigeria’s ICT Domain is questionable. To him, the fact that Nigeria is ranked 113 out of 144 countries surveyed in the Networked Readiness Index, NRI, points to the fact that ‘something is deadly off-beam somewhere’. And he fingered this current application strategy of a ‚Telecommunication country attitude which may not rescue us from emerging digital knowledge colonisation of the future.
Mrs. Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology however did not share the worries. She would rather put a finger on the documented failure rate of 90% in the software entrepreneurship space worldwide which calls for an acceleration of the innovation process. She also would call for building software companies and not mere brilliant code writing to relocate the economy.
Professor Emeritus Tapio Varis, the UNESCO (UN) Chair on e-Learning who lead discussion with his keynote speech on “Technology, Culture and Learning in the age of disruption and creativity” made the point that e-learning applications seem useful and cost effective, but will easily become counterproductive unless local and cultural elements are integrated into the learning process. He thinks Nigeria is capable and should devise strategies to champion the accelerated improvement of Africa’s knowledge index.
Promoters of the Conference pushed the frontiers of existing studies which affirm that the creation, distribution and manipulation of information is the most significant economic and cultural activity and forms the basis of the emerging Information Society (IS). Since information is the most valued commodity, it is therefore expedient and imperative to ensure that ICT and Software in particular assumes a central position in our National development strategy.
Software Engineering realm of Information and Communications Technology continues to determine and reshape the way we live, work and play. In particular, it has greatly influenced and positively disrupted the existing model for distribution of political power and national resources. Also, it has and continues to transform the social media, government, education, culture and the way we work. Software should therefore be well organised and applied as the main driver and center of gravity of our economic activity and competitiveness in the globalised world.
Regardless that the arguments are various and divergent, issues such as fighting the digital and cognitive divide and stimulating international cooperation and participation still came out as consensus areas. Others include exploring a global education model and ensuring that Education must therefore open up to global interaction for revitalizing the global public sphere and integrating communication values.
The Conference Communique is available here
Source: cyberschuulnews.com