In an effort to modernize Nigeria’s public sector, the federal government under President Bola Tinubu’s administration has declared plans to digitalize eighty percent of its operations by the following year.
The initiative intends to align Nigeria’s public sector with international best practices in e-governance, decrease corruption, increase efficiency, and improve transparency.
The Deputy Chief of Staff to the Nigerian President (Office of the Vice President), Senator , Hassan Hadejia stated that there was an urgent need to transform government operations using digital technologies during the opening of a digitalization training program for staff members of the Office of the Vice President on Monday at the State House Conference Hall.
“You get to a point where you will even fail to integrate with the rest of the world if you don’t go digital,” he stated. Everyone is advancing, therefore you need to catch up to where you can at the very least connect with them.
“Every agency and everybody would be forced to comply if you have a State House that is digitized or has gone paperless,” stated the Deputy Chief of Staff, highlighting the importance of setting an example.
He emphasized that in order to guarantee the initiative’s success, compliance had to be enforced throughout all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.
“Enforcing compliance is necessary since waiting for everyone to be ready will prevent you from accomplishing your goal. Everyone will have to cooperate if you find yourself in a position where you have to give requests or answers in a digital format, he added.
Senator Hadejia stated, “Surprisingly, the judiciary is almost at the forefront of digitization now,” drawing inspiration from the court’s successful adoption of digital processes. It only occurred as a result of the Supreme Court’s declaration several years ago that it would no longer accept lawyers’ paper processes.
Olusesan Adebiyi, the Permanent Secretary of the State House, had earlier stated that the establishment of a training center was a decision made by the House to improve employee productivity. He also mentioned that staff members will receive additional training on a recurring basis.
In an effort to increase worker efficiency, he also announced the purchase of 500 desktop computers and the creation of a training center inside the State House.
Adebiyi declared, “We have already acquired 500 newly manufactured desktop computers that are configured for use in the State House.”
He urged employees to adopt the new procedure while admonishing them not to fall behind.
