Prof. Allwell Achumba, Registrar of the council said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
“They (foreign IT firms) were not banned, they were asked to gain register with the regulatory body.
“It’s not something that can happen overnight, but we are trying, because there is an enforcement aspect of our act.
“We have to enforce people that they have to register and we’ll know what they are doing and that they are not quacks.
“I won’t say we’ve achieved it 100 per cent, but Rome was not built in a day.
“Gradually we will be able to see what we can do. We have written most of them, we’ve told them what to do, all the foreign practitioners here should register with the regulatory body and some of them are complying.
“But we are not gone full blown to go and start sanctioning them, because you need to write them, give some time of grace before now applying the full law on them.”
According to him, it is the mandate of the council to ensure that qualified people work in the sector to be in line with international best practice.
“We are backed up by the law, so we will use all the instrument of security, like the Police to enforce regulation.
“We want to make sure that before you go into any IT project, you must have been registered with CPN and have a valid license, which is renewable every year.
“We have made it very simple. You go online, upload your document and before the end of the day, your form is signed.
“Regulation is important; there is nothing you do in this world that you don’t regulate,” Achumba said.
He stated that the council was collaborating with National Commissions for Colleges of Education to accredit the study of Computer Science in colleges of education across the country.
