September 7 2002 -NITPA Meeting Report
The George Washington University, Washington DC

Dear Colleagues;

Following the conclusion of yet another successful quarterly meeting of NITPA on Saturday September 7 2002, it now becomes obvious that NITPA has shifted from its formative stage to a new stage of activity engagement. This report, therefore, will focus more on the status of over 15 activities currently being addressed by the five task forces including Application, Development, Consulting, Education and Research, and Telecom/Network. We will concentrate , as always, on the substance of the meeting. If you need more information on any part of the report, please contact the appropriate E-Board member or Task Force Director.

i. Meeting Kickoff & Introductions
The meeting started at 11:15 AM with formal introduction of members. . It was pointed out that NITPA is an organization designed to accommodate everyone who builds, supports, or uses any component of information technology including hardware, software, telecommunication, database, and services. To that end, all Nigerians who have interest in IT are welcome since our projects are always inter-disciplinary. (Note: We must find a way to begin our meetings at, or close to scheduled time of 10:00 AM).

ii. NITPA Working Model - Our Focus
We presented and discussed our working model; Please visit WWW.NITPA.ORG for details on NITPA objectives. Our model is to work in teams, coordinated by the able Task Force Directors. The task Forces include E&R, Telecom, Consulting, Development and Application. For TF Directors' names please visit the website. Within each task force, there are projects which NITPA focusing on one of NITPA's goals.

iii. Review of progress on NITPA project initiatives
We listed the current projects, and encouraged members to indicate which of the lot interested them; These include:

1. Nigerian Open University (Distance Learning) Project (with NOUN) - E&R
2. Nigerian Universities IT Curriculum Realignment Project -E&R
3. Nigerian Health Workers Training Initiative, with Howard University -APL
4. AIDS Containment Project through technology and Education - APL
5. IT Proficiency Certification Program, with Nigerian IT Vendors
Group -DEV
6. Telecommunication initiatives with NCC - Telecom/Network
7. Project IT Literacy (Publication of IT education material for K-12) - E&R
8. Nigerian IT Indigenization Policy (with both chambers of the house) - ALL
9. IT Summer Exchange Program (with practitioners in Nigerian IT
industries). - CONSULTING
10. Nigerian IT Portal - A gateway to Nigerian ICT programs - DEV
11. The UN ICT Projects - With other African entities & corporations - E-BOARD
12 Support for Owerri Digital Village (With YTF) - E-BOARD
13. Nigerian SkillsBank Project - Database of Nigerian professionals - DEV
14 Networking Initiatives with Nigerian ICT Community & other entities - E-
BOARD

NITPA is neither a company nor a project executor. Our project approach is to form COWACs around each project. (COWAC stand for Consortium of the Willing and Capable). The COWACs will have a Director and PI's who constitute its members. Each group then meets, refine the project idea, develop a proposal, identify Nigerian problem owners, and document their proposal including objectives, goals methods and budget. NITPA will help them throughout the process including making it possible for the key resources in Nigeria to avail themselves to the initiative. We are glad to report that Items 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13 and 14 have advanced to executable stage, with the assigned task forces working hard to materialize tangible results. Reports on these project activities were given as a means of stimulating interest and recruiting people into new project ideas. We will list three new projects introduced at the meeting in subsequent sections of this report.

iv. Status Reports on ongoing projects :
¢ Nigerian Universities IT Curriculum Audit Project: Prof. Vesper Owei
This effort has resulted into a proposal. We are working with NITDA on
this initiative. ATPS/IDRC will administer the project when funded. COWAC name
is GITEC; Details are known by COWAC PI's;

-The Nigerian Open University Project : Prof. Manny C Aniebonam
(Discussion with GUS in progress. Proposal to be completed in September during a
planned NITPA trip to Nigeria with NOUN and NITDA working with NITPA on
this initiative).

- The UN/ICT Project; Five NITPA members attended a UN-initiated meeting on July 12 on ICT development in Africa. A report on this meeting was issued by NITPA president on July 18th and copies were distributed at the quarterly meeting . Please contact the Secretary General or PRO if you need a copy of this report.

-NigerianSkillsBank Project: The Development Task Force has been working on creating a comprehensive database for Nigerian Professionals in diaspora. The database will house skills of Nigerians in different disciplines including their professional background and interests, resume and academic qualification. Contact Prof. Aiyegoro, Prof Owei, or Lawrence Joseph for information on this initiative.

-Telecom initiatives with NCC: Following the August visit to NITPA by Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, NITPA has established a working relationship with NCC to include collaboration on telecommunication opportunities as a professional partner of choice to NCC. We have been invited to submit to NCC ICT professionals who wish to provide consulting, training, and development work with the organization. Upon completion of the skillsbank, NCC will be provided access to the database as an effective means of collaboration. A presentation on Nigerian Telecom industry was given by Frank Nduka , Microsoft Corp.

v. Nigerian Indigenization Policy (Edna Eguh, Esq)
The NIP project involves development of a legal framework to allow for exclusive provision of ICT opportunities to Nigerian professionals and corporations. A presentation on this bill was given by Edna Eguh, with plans to work with Nigerian-based colleagues in pushing it forward.

vi. NITPA Newsletter ; Chuks Eleonu
The first issue of NITPA NewsByte was launched with great fanfare; The Newsletter Task Force has done a great job in putting together a print document containing the organization's progress, projects and reports; We need advertisement to sustain the newsletter, and the next release will coincide with our Fall meeting. The newsletter is free and can be received by any member upon request. Please contact Chuks Eleonu for a copy or to contribute articles to the next issue of the newsletter.

vii. NITPA Membership registration, and expansion
Twelve new members were registered at the meeting , including over 20 more potential members whose applications are being reviewed. We are receiving lots of membership inquiries from home-based Nigerian professionals and non-Nigerians in the US. The E-Board will meet to decide whether or not to extend our membership to these categories; We welcome your input.

viii. Next NITPA Meeting
Next meeting is set for December 7 2002; We have secured the same meeting location for this date. If anyone, however, have a better meeting setup, please advise. We will always be flexible in support of our quest for functional effectiveness;

ix. NITPA Summit
We plan to have a NITPA summit in the near future. No date or decision has been made. If you wish to help plan this, please contact the E-Board.

x. Cote d' Voire Opportunities:
A presentation was made to NITPA by Dr. Dominic Ntube, leading a team from the office of Cote d' Voire Presidency who wish to NITPA to participate in several technical/investment/development opportunities in that country. An appeal was made for NITPA members to attend an October 4th exclusive meeting with the country's president in Washington for further discussions. Twelve NITA members signed up and will be contacted by the organizers. If you wish to be included in this initiative, please contact Dr. Ntube at wbinfafricaclub@worldbank.org.

In conclusion, we had a very productive meeting. Our meetings take months of planning, since what we do offline constitute the bedrock for the success of our meeting deliberations. I ask that the networking continues, and that we do all we can to advance the mission we have embraced. The E-Board will do all we can to justify the trust you put in us.

Best Wishes,
and On Behalf of the E-Board,

Manny C Aniebonam, Ph.D.
NITPA President
_______________

Abiodun Bada,Ph.D.
NITPA Secretary General