By Chuks Okocha
The Senate has begun the legislative process to establish the Institute of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Uga, Anambra State.
A bill to that effect sponsored by Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP Anambra South), which was read for the first time on July 7, 2020, passed second reading on the floor of the upper legislative chamber.
In his lead debate on the piece of legislation, Ubah said: “The institute, when established, will carry out scientific and applied research in the area of modern information technology application to optimise processes and decision support systems.”
Besides, the lawmaker said the institute would provide dynamic learning infrastructure with quality education through rigorous teaching and research methodologies in ICT, adding that it would also provide academic programmes with quality curricula focused to forge professionals, experts and scholars in the field of ICT-electronics, software engineering and telemedicine.
The senator further explained that the institute would aim at fostering such values among its academia, undergraduates and graduate scholars, and ensuring a place of pride for Nigerian teeming youths in the world of learning.
The bill, Ubah stressed, “seeks to provide platforms for modeling, design and control of processes and systems; create single and multi-objective optimisation models, group decision making models, desktop and web-based software systems for information processing, optimization and decision support.”
He added that it would enable for research and studies to enhance modeling and optimisation for automobile breakthroughs, renewable energy sources and for night vision devices.
The lawmaker also noted that “technology is extremely important in the workplace as a means of communication, as today businesses rely heavily on it.
“Technology allows many businesses to expand more quickly by having the proper means to promote them. It is trending now that all businesses have social network websites that would enable service delivery as well as give updates to their customers.
“ICT is the trending best practice in the world today, and an institute specially designated for this purpose should be a welcome development.”
In his contribution, Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC Kogi West) sought the support of the Senate for the bill, and called for the establishment of the institute in all the six geopolitical zones in the country.
Also, Senator Binos Yaroe (PDP Adamawa South) remarked that education remains the bedrock of development of any nation, and therefore, stressed the need for the government to venture into areas capable of generating employment opportunities and revenues like the ICT, mining, among others in the country.
