*Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Honourable Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, highlights the Federal Government鈥檚 strategies for achieving a paperless administration by 2030, and its commitment to digitisation of processes for effective service delivery to Nigerians

Gbenga Kayode | 绿帽献妻

In maximising the inherent benefits of the Nigeria Digital Economy in years ahead, the Federal Government has disclosed its plan to run a paperless administration in which emerging technologies have data integrity, and several other attributes are guaranteed for socio-economic transformation in the country.

绿帽献妻 learnt the Federal Government hinted at an action plan targeting Year 2030 to migrate all government paper-related activities to paperless, as in the mould of the City of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that attained 100 percent paperless recently.

Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Honourable Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, disclosed this development in Abuja, FCT, during the Champion Day and Closing of 2021 Service Wide Capacity Building programme on e-Government.

The Minister stated: 鈥淭he target of the Federal Government is to make sure that by 2030, we achieve a paperless government where emerging technologies like Blockchain that has data integrity and many more is guaranteed.鈥�

According to Pantami, the achievement of paperless government is very possible because the government is desirous of digitising its processes.

The Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, however, noted that technology cannot do it alone.

鈥淲e must ensure that we train ourselves so that we manage the technology effectively for the betterment of our country,鈥� said he.

Investments in digital economy projects

Pantami also revealed that the Federal Government has spent total N152 billion on investments in digitalisation in 2021.

The amount, he said, was 鈥渁 quantum leap from the N9billion spent in 2019 and 2020鈥� in advancing the frontiers of digitisation of the Nigerian economy.

The Minister further revealed that the amount constituted the total sum approved by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) among other agencies of government for the last fiscal year.

The Federal Government, he stated, is committed to the implementation of digitising its processes for effective service delivery.

Pantami also stated: 鈥淭o show us the level of implementation of the government鈥檚 digital services in the country, from January to December 2021, NITDA, on behalf of the government, has approved the execution of 499 projects.

鈥淗owever, the approved projects include the backlog of 2020 and 2019.鈥�

Digitalisation of government processes in 48 MDAs

Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), in a goodwill message at the Champion Day and Closing of 2021 Service Wide Capacity Building programme on e-Government in Abuja, also said that several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government are on the verge to digitalise their processes.

The HoCSF assured that by the end of the New Year, sundry successes will have been recorded in Nigeria鈥檚 efforts at digitalising the economy.

Dr. Yemi-Esan applauded Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and its parastatals, including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and NITDA for the support in ensuring that processes at the Office of Head of Service for the Federation are also digitalised.

鈥淭the gestures would go a long way in assisting us to achieve our own dream,鈥� she said.

Yemi-Esan especially thanked NITDA for the role it is playing to get the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation a platform that will enhance digitalisation of government processes.

She further stated: 鈥淚 want to thank NITDA because we have been able to work together to get a platform the HoSCF would use for digitalisation and right now we are working on approval for the platform.鈥�

While describing the training as very apt because of all the technologies the government is putting in place, Dr. Yemi-Esan urged the trainees to ensure that they replicate what they have learnt in their respective MDAs by training the other staff.

Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE, Director-General of NITDA, who is also the Council鈥檚 Chairman, e-Government Training Centre, said the Federal Government had trained 1,376 civil servants from 48 MDAs between November 2020 and December 2021 in the use of ICT tools.

Adbdullahi said the capacity building programme for Civil Servants was part of the Federal Government鈥檚 e-Government Master Plan aimed at digitising every government process in all MDAs.

The NITDA Chief, who acknowledged the Civil Servants as the engine room of the government, maintained that if the government wishes to transform, the workers need to be transformed first.

Transformation, he noted, is not just about technology; we need the people that will operate the technology.

If we don鈥檛 have the people or a proper process in place, we would not have value from the technology, he stated.

Abdullahi, who stressed that the essence of e-Government tools is for convenient and cost-saving, observed that with technology, the country was able to continue activities while under COVID-19 lockdowns at some points.

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