" ITREALMS: NITDA, NCC support Nigerian IT youth rally

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

NITDA, NCC support Nigerian IT youth rally

THE National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are partnering Technology Africa to host the 2007 edition of “The Nigeria IT Youth Rally” slated to hold at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

The event scheduled to hold on October 2, this year. is expected to be the largest gathering of Nigerian IT enthused youth.

Managing Consultant, Technology Africa, Mr. Don Pedro Aganbi, said that the IT youth rally has become imperative because of the looming digital divide between Nigerian youths and that of the more developed countries.

He disclosed that the Director General, NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, would be the chief host while the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, would deliver the keynote address.

Other notable speakers for the event with the theme: “IT & Nigerian Youths: The Road Ahead,” include the Chairman, Silverbird Group, Mr. Ben Murray Bruce, Chairman, Zinox Technologies, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman Linkserve, Chief Chima Onyekwere, Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Mr. Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, Managing Director, Omatek Computers, Mrs. Florence Seriki, and Ambassador John Fashanu among others.

“If access to and use of these technologies is directly linked to social and economic development, then it is crucial to ensure that youths in Nigeria understand their significance and use them. If not, lack of access to Information Technologies becomes a significant factor in the continued marginalization of these youths,” he declared.

Mr. Aganbi stressed that IT has enormous potential to connection Nigerian youths to global opportunities and to make them competitive and relevant.

“However, if our IT professionals and national policy makers are not proactive in ensuring that the benefits of IT are properly harnessed, the nation may fail to reap the full potential of these powerful tools, ‘IT addicts have brighter future than drug addicts,” he said.

The 2007 youth rally theme, he said, is “IT & Nigerian Youths: The Road Ahead,” was designed to create an interface between IT leaders and Nigerian youth for intelligence discourse and chat a new course for the future of IT.

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