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<h4> By David Agba
Abuja </h4>
A former Minister of Petroleum Resources and Chairman of Data Science Nigeria Limited, Chief Don Etiebet, has stated that establishment of technology parks in the country would play a key role in accelerating growth in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. He therefore called on the federal government to intensify eff orts in that regard. Etiebet made the call at the 39th Leadership Tribute Colloquium organised by the Centre for Leadership in Values (CVL) in his honour on the occasion of his 73rd birthday. Th e theme of colloquium was: ‘Th e Evolution of ICT and the Speed of Change in Nigeria’s Economic Space.’ He said that ICT is a tool that people should gain mastery of in order to carry out their tasks eff ectively, pointing out that it is very important to develop the proper training to get users familiar with the basics such as coding. Etiebet explained that in software development, the challenge facing the sector is coding, urging the government to develop the minds of youths in computer coding. Furthermore, he said that if the youths are able to make breakthrough in coding, they would be able to translate the indigenous languages to computer languages. Etiebet maintained that the business environment should be structured in a way that would allow civil servants to contribute to the growth of the sector. In her remarks, the Provost, College of Fellows, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Prof. Adenike Osofi san, said that the country must go back to the basics if it truly wants to revolutionalise ICT and tap into the potentials of the sector benefi ts, suggesting that, children from their young ages should be exposed to IT practical. She said: “For me I think if we truly want to use ICT to revolutionalise Nigeria we must start from the basics which is the kindergarten school. We must begin to train our children in the act of programming because it’s all about artifi cial intelligent. We must train youths to contribute their quota in the ICT sector. Government needs to emulate the example of US in developing the sector especially investing in the education of ICT.”
