An expected highlight at the upcoming National IT Merit Awards (NITMA) organized by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) is the 2013 Information Technology IT Personality of the Year Nigeria Award.
Nominees for this year’s most distinguished President’s Award, the IT Personality of the Year, have stood out this year with their exceptional and outstanding contributions.
The prestigious award recognizes individuals whose contributions in Information Technology and related have been most significant.
Nominated this year for the high profile award are: Andy Nwani – Managing Director, Dataflex Nigeria Limited, Austin Okere – Managing Director, Computer Warehouse Group, John Tani Obaro – Managing Director, Systemspecs Nigeria Limited and Yele Okeremi – Managing Director, Precise Financial Systems Limited.
Obaro however stands out as he has nurtured from a 5-man Partner Agent of Systems Union, UK in 1992 to become a leading provider of the most widely deployed indigenous human capital software solution (HumanManager) and the most innovative and acceptable financial remittance solutions not only in Nigeria but also within the West African sub-regional market (Remita).
These homegrown products are synonymous with the trademark for highest quality business software solutions most sought after in Nigeria today.
The tons of indigenous, regional and international awards with which SystemSpecs has been conferred since inception attest to its all-round exceptional success.
A man of high integrity, great ideas and a clear demand for excellence, the early part of his career was spent at Leventis Group of Companies and United Bank of Africa.
His last appointment before founding SystemSpecs, was at International Merchant Bank (IMB) then an affiliate of the First National Bank of Chicago, where he led the team that achieved Nigeria’s first installation of an international banking package on a network of 5 cities, at a time when many organisations were paper-based.
Under his leadership, and with a team of professionals with varied experience, SystemSpecs has attained the enviable position of Nigeria’s leading software house and aspiring to become the de-facto software institution in Africa.
Obaro has a degree in computer Science from the Ahmadu Bello University (1979), and an MBA from the University of Lagos (1981).
He’s an alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School (LBS) Chief Executive Programme and has extensive international exposures to business management.
Recognised for his leading role in the development of IT and particularly software, Obaro served on subcommittees of the National IT Policy Development Team, the Ministerial Committee for Software Development in Nigeria as well as the CBN Committee on National Payment System Vision 2020.
On invitation, he serves as a patron of the Nigeria Computer Science Students Association (NACOSS) which has presence in over fifty tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Obaro is a fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), member of Computer Professionals (Registration Council) of Nigeria (CPN) – the highest industry practice regulatory body, and is the 1st Vice President of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON).