The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, said the plan for full digitalisation of all processes in Ministries, Departments and Agencies by 2025 will lead to an automatic cut in the cost of governance.
She also stated that now that MDAs have been given the opportunity to secure proper financial allocation in the 2024 budget, they will have no excuse not to step up their digitization efforts in 2024.
This is to meet the 2025 target specified in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan, 2021-2025.
She said this at a one-day Retreat on digitalisation for the Head of Service and Permanent Secretaries according to a statement made available to our correspondent on Wednesday.
The statement which was signed by the Director, Press of the OHCSF, Muhammed Ahmed, reads, “Yemi-Esan who spoke on the theme “towards the digitalization of the public service by 2025,” stressed that all the FCSSIP25 pillars are anchored on digitalization, insisting that for the service to run with these pillars, it must digitalize its work processes. She urged MDAs to leverage on technology to drive the national goals of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.
“She expressed dissatisfaction that Nigeria is lagging behind in terms of digitalisation, as 90% of governments in the world have since gone digital and are presently deploying Artificial Intelligence solutions.
“Re-emphasising on the gains of going digital, such as reduction in cost of governance, waste reduction, as well as the provision of information at the backend with saved data, she urged MDAs to ensure uniformity and interoperability of data in order to achieve common set goals.”
In their goodwill messages, the representative of the Aig-Imoukhoude Foundation, Chioma Njoku, reiterated the foundation’s commitment to ensuring that the service works for the good of its citizens, while the Director-General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, confirmed that digitalization is the only solution that will bring the entire system together.
He expressed optimism on the successful achievement of its implementation in 2025.
In another presentation by the Director, Information and Communication Technology, Adeniyi Dada, who took the audience through the “government e-mail initiative”, revealed that the civil service is set to meet the 2025 target.
“He also affirmed that MDAs are already aware of the government e-mails with the increase in the number of e-mail slots allocated by GBB from 10,000, 40,000 to 100,000 from 2009 to date,” the statement read.