Things are looking up at the Computer Professionals Registration Council, CPN, giving the impression that the new administration of the council has finally discovered the right strategy to wake up uncooperative members and position the values of the council at such a vantage position to attract new membership.

At least not less than one hundred and thirty new members who went through needle- eye screening processes were inducted into the council last week as it organized the annual Information Technology Professionals Assembly in Nicon Luxury Hotels, Abuja.

Yet in organizing the event, which attracted the crème de la crème of IT profession in Nigeria as well as notable government functionaries, the council exhibited the confidence of one who has a good story to tell, and was able to unfold a lot of progressive activities that were beginning to take shape in a council that was formally viewed as dormant and saddling over a profession meant for all comers.

Between the current President of the association Prof. Nike Osofisan and her Registrar Mr Sikiru Shehu, there were enough testimonies to how far the Nigerian economy could be stabilized if the IT professionals take the profession seriously and also believe in setting proper standards.

For Osofisan, the event was in keeping with the Act 49 of 1993 which established the council as a regulatory and supervisory body for the information Technology profession in Nigeria, and the council, "has been breaking new grounds in its efforts at bringing about sustainable developments in the profession in Nigeria to strengthen the ideals of vision 20 2020"

Part of the sustainable developments according to her, included its collaboration with tertiary institutions which has resulted into a joint accreditation agreement between the council and National Board for Technical Education NBTE.

"In January this year we signed a memorandum of understanding in Kaduna with the National Board for Technical Education. This MoU is for both bodies to jointly accredit qualified institutions of IT learning and since, the exercise has taken off with the officials of the CPN and NBTE having accredited some institutions. Today, we also want to replicate the same experience with the National Universities Commission, NUC and the National Commission for Colleges of Education" she said

Besides this, Osofisan also said that the patronage the council was getting from the private and public sector was getting improved by the day as her team has consistently drummed the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with CPN into the consciousness of stakeholders in the industry. "Our secretariat is now the reference point on IT matters in Nigeria.

Public and private organizations refer matter of IT to the council for information and clearance where required. Besides, registration to the council is now prerequisite to getting contracts and employment on IT related activities in some part of the public sector. Today, the enforcement of this policy is so potent that companies that are not registered with us are turned back from bidding for contracts in some government ministries and parastatals" Yet she noted that there was a greater need to protect the profession from infiltration and damage from non professionals not worthy to be seen in a pure IT environment.

She said this was necessary to sustain the desires of the IT professionals to make information Technology the flagship of all other professions in the country and also the driver of the country's economy . "fellow professionals you will agree with me that Information Technology is a critical sector that needs to be fully explored for the realization of vision 20 2020 objective, we have a substantial contribution to make and this contribution is to grow this profession maximally , so it can impact positively on the economy, thereby facilitating the realization of the vision"

But for the council's scribe Mr Sikiru Shehu, most of the achievements of the council were not by force of physical action but by mental calculations and diplomatic application of known rights, rules, power and authority and so while compliant to the CPN stipulations was paramount, officials were careful not to inflict pains upon members.

"The pendulum has now swung in favour of the council. IT practitioners now come voluntarily to indicate interest to register and this has impacted positively on us. The grand total of our membership now is two thousand, four hundred and thirty members which represents an increase of forty - nine percent (49%).

Also, the student members have grown from One Thousand, Four Hundred (1,400) members to Three Thousand, Eight Hundred and five (3, 805) members. A comparison of 1999 - 2006 and 2007 - 2008 shows that much has been achieved in the past two years. With the target of a minimum of 500 members expected from efforts of our offices nationwide; we expect to induct over Four Thousand (4,000) members this time next year.

"We have really intensified our efforts on the promotion of education and manpower development in the profession. This, we believe will bring about sustainable developments to the profession and the nation.

Towards this end, the proposal for collaboration between Computer Professionals (Registration Council of Nigeria) and National Board for Technical Education on accreditation has turned into a reality. The Memorandum of Understanding between the NBTE and the Council was signed on Monday 14th January, 2008 at the National Board for Technical Education office in Kaduna. The Memorandum of Understanding is being presently implemented and the two bodies have accredited some private and public Polytechnics. A total of Thirty eight (38) institutions were visited by the CPN & NBTE joint accreditation team during the year under review" he added.