Is it IT sector or ICT sector?
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/12/is-it-it-sector-or-ict-sector/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/12/is-it-it-sector-or-ict-sector/
By Charles Mgbolu A rather unusual but heated debate had erupted during a session at the NITMA awards organised by the Nigeria Computer Society NCS in Lagos recently during which leading stakeholders in the sector and the President of the Information Technology Association of Nigeria, ITAN; Dr. Jimson Olufuye had argued vehemently over the proper acronym to call the sector: IT or ICT? The arguments had ruffled a lot of feathers, particularly the chairman of the event Mr Orjinta Orji-Alla who is the former president of the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria CPN and member of the NCS. He stood and threatened that those who do not agree with the council – which insisted that the sector be called ‘IT’ had better resign from it. He said that the council spoke and will continue to speak as one voice in international engagements referring to the sector as IT and not ICT. He said the council will not tolerate any her members going abroad and saying otherwise “That person had better resign now” he said. The arguments had been triggered when a speaker and past president of the NCS, Mr. S.B.A Ezichi in his paper presentation titled: Historical perspective on IT development in Nigeria: Prospect, Challenges and Current developments had ‘seemingly’ corrected that the sector which was now commonly referred to as ICT in some quarters should not be so. Mr Ezichi said the two were not the same, that Information Technology was a much more broader term that enveloped every sub-field in the sector. Olufuye did not agree and during his presentation as part of the discussants during the event, he insisted that there was a world convergence presently going on with ‘communication’ currently having a strong footing in it which in turn now make many countries of the world refer to the sector as Information Communication Technology and not just Information Technology. “You cannot say IT is not the same thing as ICT. It is wrong. It depends on your leverage. You can decide to use IT for communication, then we know that communication is embedded in it; but don’t blame or condemn that use ICT that is the bottom line.” He continued “We have convergence right now. We are in the state of convergence when computer equipment, software, hardware, communication equipment, communication services; they have all merged together under one platform called IP- Internet Protocol.