IT professionals to be licenced

The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) says plans are underway to licence all information and technology (IT) professionals in the country to bring sanity into the profession.

Mr George Atta-Boateng, the Director-General, NITA, said licensing IT professionals would generally increase the value of their intellectual property portfolio.

He said NITA’s vision is to provide leadership in the application of information and communication technology (ICTs) in the public sector, by transforming government’s administration, information dissemination and service delivery for national development.

Mr Atta-Boateng was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the Third Ghana Internet Governance Forum in Accra.

The forum on the theme: “Ensuring Freedom, Security and growth in Our Digital World”, was sponsored by NITA, the National Communications Authority, IGF Support Association and the Internet Society.

It brought together stakeholders to discuss the governance of the internet.

Mr Atta-Boateng said NITA exists to promote and regulate the ICT industry in the country and one of its core mandates “is to ensure that best practices are in place so that all IT professional agencies can follow”.

The Director-General explained that just as the Ghana Medical Association issue licences to medical doctors before they could practice in the country; the Agency in collaboration with the IT Association of Ghana would issue licences to all IT professionals operating in the country.

“We want to issue licences to all IT professional. For you to operate as an IT professional, you will need a licence from NITA. Whether you are a network engineer, software engineers and database administrator, as long as you are an IT professional, you will need a licence from us,” Mr Atta-Boateng stated.

He said as the implementer and promoter of the Electronic Transaction Act, NITA would ensure that all ICT equipment are regulated.

Mr Atta-Boateng said as the regulator, the Agency would continue to establish the necessary operational framework to ensure that the IT industry is guided by standards and efficient regulations.

He said as the government’s network operator, NITA had established a nationwide 4G LTE network to promote use of IT within government.

On the IGF, the Director-General assured that NITA is committed to ensure that the forum is organised annually to discuss issues around the evolving internet ecosystem.