Database: Technology Acquisition Office urges Nigerian Professionals to register

The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion NOTAP has called on all Nigerian Science, Engineering and Technology experts to register their profiles with the agency’s Database of Nigerian Professional (DNP) Platform.

At a media chat on the public presentation of the indigenous software, the Director-General of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion NOTAP Dr Dan-Azumi Mohammed Ibrahim said the entire project by the agency is to protect and sustain the indigenous competencies and to further build capacities as well as enhance their financial base.

“In order to achieve the Mandate of Executive Order 5, NOTAP conceived the development of the database project. After due process, the project was awarded to an indigenous IT company. The project primarily focuses on the design, development and deployment of an online portal solution for the database of the Nigerian professionals with an emphasis on five cardinal points: Capture, Store, Analyze, Search and Report.

“The platform is designed in line with the definition or stipulations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) classification of Fields of Science and Technology (FOS) with five top-level categories: Natural Sciences, Engineering, Medical and Health Sciences, Agricultural Science and Information Technology”. Dr Ibrahim said.

Dr Ibrahim added that Presently, NOTAP has more than 7000 manual entries of COREN Registered Engineering Personnel and will seamlessly be constantly updated with the development of the software application by Cagewox Dot Net Limited, which is the company that developed it.

The DNP platform is a web-based solution that provides a self-service platform for professionals both at home and in the Diaspora to sign up and register their profiles in the comfort of their homes using any device, thus overcoming the uneasy manual process previously used.

The platform is to assist NOTAP and other Ministries, Department and Agencies to access the database in search of indigenous experts in carrying out construction contracts for the development of the country.

It would be recalled that on the 2nd of February 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the Executive Order 5 which states that “Procuring authorities shall give preference to Nigerian companies and firms in the award of contracts, in line with the Public Procurement Act 2007″.

The Order also prohibits the Ministry of Interior from issuing visas to foreign Nationals whose skills are readily available in Nigeria. In other words, the order will preclude foreigners from taking contract jobs that Nigerians have the competence and capabilities to handle.

Nigerian Professionals can get to sign up and register their profiles with the NOTAP through the website www.notap.gov.ng or https://dnp.notap.gov.ng

PIAK