IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Nigeria Postal Services (NIPOST) is set to open 10,000 smart offices across the country in a bid to make post offices a one-stop-shop for diverse economic transactions and overcome the challenges faced as a result of the erosion of the letter-writing culture in line with the Federal Government’s digital economy policy.

The Postmaster General of the Federation, Dr Ismail Adewusi, made this known at the weekend at the General Post Office Complex, Dugbe in Ibadan, while inspecting facilities of the agency in Oyo State, adding that plans are underway to embrace technological development to give the best service to people in the country.

This year’s event will have in at­tendance, President Goodluck Jonathan as the Special Guest of honour just as renowned Nigerian lead concept Chevro­let Volt electric car designer, Jelani Aliyu has been confirmed to deliver the keynote address at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The NMA president, Dr Osahon Enebulele, explained that e-health is the safe, secure, ethical and cost effective transmission and exchange of health data and information, adding that common e-health application includes m-health, Telemedicine and Electronic Health Records (EHR).

Dr Enebulele at the opening ceremony in Lagos, last week, noted that Nigeria is yet to have a strategic policy for utilisation of e-health unlike other developing countries such as India, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda who have greatly explored the potentials of e-health in transforming their healthcare systems and economies.

The Rivers State Civil Service is set to adopt sovereign digital platforms to empower its workforce, enhance service delivery, and set the pace for modern governance in Nigeria.

The government’s position was announced during the 2025 Civil Service Week, which commenced on September 9, 2025, reaffirming its commitment to a paperless future and digital-first administration.

Despite what ICT and telecommunication professionals have described as an "articulate" broadband policy, Nigeria has struggled to achieve the 30% fixed internet penetration set for 2018. To address this and ensure rapid deployment of connectivity (especially to rural areas), satellite data communications services provider Avanti Communications has partnered with African connectivity and datacentre solutions company MainOne.

In early February 2019 at the annual IT conference Nerds Unite, hosted by MainOne, the companies announced their alliance and offered details of what the market could expect.

Smart Africa’s Director-General, Lacina Koné, has revealed plans for a strategic collaboration with Nigeria in the enhancement of the country’s digital infrastructure and empowering its citizens.

In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Koné outlined the vision behind Smart Africa’s partnership, emphasising the importance of bridging the digital divide and fostering inclusive growth across the continent.

The endorsement was given at the UN-organised International Conference for Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2007) held in China at the weekend.

As the world commemorates World Cities’ Day 2025, under the theme “People-centred Smart Cities,” the United Nations emphasises the critical need to scale and upgrade urban areas to meet the demands of growing populations and to foster more liveable environments.

Since its inception in 2014, the World Cities Day has marked the culmination of Urban October, aiming to raise awareness about urbanisation trends, associated challenges, and visions for sustainable development. This day encourages international cooperation towards building equitable, prosperous, and inclusive cities that enhance residents’ quality of life.

Marketing Communications expert, Jenkins Alumona, has stated that the deployment of e-governance and other Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in will be only be functional when ordinary Nigerians can benefit from such. Alumona, Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Outcomes Limited Group, said this at the inaugural edition of The Nigeria e-Government Conference in Lagos on Thursday.

Speaking on a sub-theme of the conference, “Government Service Delivery in the Information Age: Citizens’ Expectations”, Alumona explained that the non-availability of critical infrastructure such as electricity greatly hinders majority of Nigerians from participating in the e-governance process and limits the progress of the initiative.

The Federal Government has said that Nigeria was complying with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) standards in the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at all levels of applications.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, stated this via a Skype message on the commemoration of the World Telecommunications Information and Society Day Celebration (WTISD-20).

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reiterated that there is need to bridge the gap in the fiber optic cables needed to broaden the country’s broadband, stating that the country needs 120,000 additional kilometres of fibre optic cables to meet the New National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2025 target.

It added that there was need for massive investments in about 40,000 additional Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) for the country to realise its plan on broadband penetration.

Founder of Chams Plc and executive chairman of SmartCity, Sir Demola Aladekomo, has called for the development of Smart Cities in Nigeria following the UN estimate of about 294 million Nigerians migration from rural to the urban areas by 2050.

This call was made at the 8th edition of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (LCCI) 2022 Information Communication Technology and Telecommunication (ICTEL) Expo held in Lagos recently.

Ezeobi Chinedu is a legal practitioner and policy analyst. He sheds more light on the need to have a credible national identity data base to curb insecurity in this interview with Paul Omo Obadan.

Q: What is your take on the ongoing Biometric ID Card by National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)?

Nigeria is overdue for a national finger print database to match extracted finger print from crime scenes, terrorism and sundry, but this cannot be done without a national registration of citizens and other people living in the country. A nationwide registration to collect the finger prints of all Nigerian citizens and residents would become a critical component of measures to fight widespread crimes in Nigeria, including terrorism and kidnapping. Nigeria’s complex and evolving security threats require modern intelligence-driven solutions and forensic investigation to keep pace or stay ahead of sworn enemies of the nation. Nigeria cannot talk about security without knowing who the citizens are. Until the issue is resolved and every citizen identified through a national data system, the nation’s security system and economy will continue to be threatened by the unidentified 180 million citizens within and outside the country. Biometric ID cards apply to a number of different solutions, especially for those companies and individuals that might require greater security. Those companies that work in highly competitive fields might want biometric ID cards as added security against illegal duplication and theft. Research institutions, government sector, and even universities and schools are well served by advanced ID cards. Even, biometric cards for children are starting to be implemented and are an excellent way to identify them quickly and easily, especially if they are young enough to forget important information like their home address and phone number.

However, despite the various moves by the government, Johnson said that reports have indicated that Nigeria was yet to really explore the benefits of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), to solve major challenges confronting it.

The minister, in her keynote address at the just concluded Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) 11th International Conference in Iloko, Osun State at the weekend, said that further validation of Nigeria’s assessment was borne out by its low position on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Networked Readiness Index (NRI) for 2013.

The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu has said the present administration is set to leverage the benefit of the digital revolution and the huge potential of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to drive development in the digital smart Nigeria project.

Adebayo made the disclosure recently, while addressing delegates at the opening ceremony of the just concluded 14th Innovation Africa Digital Summit 2016 held in Abuja.

The three day summit with the theme: ‘Harnessing Africa’s Digital Growth’, was Africa’s leading ICT Business Summit with over 500 senior executives across government, regulatory bodies, telecoms operators and major end users of ICT products, in attendance from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

The Federal Government will achieve 30 per cent national broadband penetration by 2018 as projected in the National Broadband Plan, Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu said in Abuja.

Shittu, who spoke when he featured at News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum, said government had achieved between 18 to 20 per cent penetration due to private sector initiatives.

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, has predicted that the Nige­ria’s digital transformation future would be “brighter and also offers hope of being prosperous.”

The NITDA’s boss expressed this optimism in Lagos while delivering his keynote address titled “Imple­menting a National Digital Trans­formation Agenda” at the ongoing Global Tech Africa 2023 with the theme “Facilitating Investments in Africa’s Digital Economy.

The IT experts, who spoke at a gathering in Lagos weekend for the e-Business (Internet Technology-driven Business) conference organised by the Nigerian Internet Group (NIG), called on Nigerians to give priority to e-business solution because of its potential in driving business and the economy.

In technical parlance, e-business is an electronic form of business that is carried out in cyberspace, using the Internet platform. It covers all forms of electronic transactions such as e-government, e-health, e-education, e-commerce, e-banking, among others.

Even though a report states that Nigeria is number 10, in terms of internet users in the world, stating that we have about 44 million users on the internet. We are not yet there. If you put it against our population that is still not up to a third of our population that has access to internet in the country. A country like South Africa and Egypt are ahead of Nigeria. To know we are not yet there: everything I.T items used in the offices are not produced in Nigeria – the computer, printer, telephones, cameras are all imported. The implication is the jobs are being created in China, India, UK and US and not in Nigeria. When Nigeria becomes an ICT-driven nation, we will be able to produce our own telephones, computers. But we are moving there.