By Joseph Atainyang
The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) is locked in a roar with the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) over alleged hijack of licensing rights.
The NSE says CPN has crossed the red line by branding itself the official professional group with the powers to licensing of information technology (IT) and information and communication technology (ICT) professionals in the country.
A statement endorsed by Engineer Isaac Aikoroye at the end of a virtual technical session, NSE said the existing extant law does not permit CPN to dish out such licences, describing the development as a misnomer and an impediment on national development.
Aikoroje, a retired staff of the Warri Refinery and immediate-past rector of the Global Maritime Academy in Delta South Senatorial District, explained that the session analysed the design and construction of a pure sine wave inverter, calling on other professional bodies to rise to the occasion and dissuade CPN from appropriating to itself the regulatory and licensing functions which are outside their boundary and capacity.
Aikoroje maintained that the project was an indigenous effort aimed at using the phenomenon of phase and change to help sustain and reduce energy for field auxiliary appliance which support IT infrastructure and Industrial Automation like remote data acquisition, transmission and communication systems vital for on-shore and off-shore oil and gas installations.
He pointed out that neither the Computer Science study nor the CPN Act equates Computer Science to Information Technology, but that the CPN Act gives the mandate to regulate/standardize computer science education and practice and not IT.
He said the ugly development would breed disharmony among concerned professionals and called on the National Assembly and the Nigerian Communications Council (NCC) now known as the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) to urgently intervene.
The statement reads thus in parts, “It is noteworthy that there is an Engineering Regulation Act in Nigeria since 1970 as amended in 2018 for the regulation of professional cadre with the engineering family.
“Similarly, there is the Computer Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) Act of 1993 for the Computer Scientists. For the avoidance of doubt, neither the Computer Science study nor the CPN Act equates Computer Science to Information Technology. Rather the CPN Act gives the mandate to regulate/standardize Computer Science education and practice and not IT.
“Thus, they may be entitled to certify only computer scientists or Computer Science professionals working anywhere including IT/ICT industry.
“The mandate licensing and regulating IT/ICT infrastructure/facilities and services rests within NITDA and NCC and are contributory because IT and ICT are interwoven. In turn, the boards and staff of these bodies are meant to reflect the multi-discipline nature of IT/ICT practices by featuring a mix of certified professionals like the retinue of engineers, engineering technologists, and craft men by COREN, computer scientists by CPN, etc, all working together to achieve the said mandates of NITDA and NCC, etc.
“The session therefore called on ministries, departments and all agencies (MDAs) and Information Technology and Information and Communication Technology practitioners in the education and industrial sectors, including NITDA, NCC, NSE and COREN to be alert and act to prevent NCS/CPN from appropriating to itself regulatory/licensing functions which are outside their boundary and capacity as it would not augur well for the development of IT infrastructure in particular and development of Nigeria in general.”
