‘Govt not scrapping CPN, council to defend 2015 budget’

THE Computer Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) has denied report in some section of the media, not The Guardian that the Federal Government planned to scrap it.

   Refuting the story on Monday in a statement signed by the Registrar of CPN, Sikiru Shehu, he claimed that the story was false and misleading.

   Shehu said: “The attention of Computer Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria [CPN] has been drawn to a story caption ‘’Oronsaye’s Report: FG Moves to Scrap Computer Professional Council.’’ We want to state categorically that the information given in that story are totally false, untrue and a misrepresentation of facts.”

   The CPN Registrar said it is not true that government is considering or ever considered the scrapping the council.

    According to him, CPN is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Education duly established by law [Act No. 49 of 1993] with a very clear and unambiguous mandate to regulate, control and supervise the Information Technology profession in the country.

    He stressed that CPN has been faithful to its mandate and so government is not considering scrapping it.

   Explaining the issue around stoppage of salary for the month of January,

 Shehu said “the issue of salary stoppage of its staff was a misunderstanding of a circular issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in 2014 which has since been corrected; in fact CPN will be defending its budget at the National Assembly in the first week of March, 2015.”

    Shehu stressed that CPN remained the only Federal Government Agency charged with the responsibility of regulating, controlling and supervising the computing industry in the country.

    According to him, CPN is busy engaged in the discharge of its duties and responsibilities to its members, students, partners, affiliates, organizations, institutions, among others and its even looking forward to hosting its yearly flagship event: The Information Technology Professionals’ Assembly in Calabar, Cross Rivers State from June 10th to 11th at the Transcorp Hotel.

   “CPN will therefore want to use this medium to correct the erroneous impression created by that publication in the minds of its members, students, partners, affiliates, organizations, institutions, among others and wishes to put the record straight that CPN has not been scrapped and is not about to be scrapped by government”, he stated.

     A source in the Ministry of Communications Technology, also told The Guardian that there was never a plan to scrap CPN, though recommended, “but I can say nothing like that for now.”

     According to him, that salary was stopped in January was because of the introduction of a new payroll system by the government, “and it was not only CPN that was affected. But it has been rectified.”