IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

She said this at the formal inauguration of a monthly lecture series in Abuja, adding that the ministry would continue to work with other ministries, departments and agencies to bring more government data sets online, even before they are asked for.

Acting National Project Coordination of the Fadama III programme, Mr. Tayo Adewumi said the application of ICT under the component IV programme currently being undertaken in Fadama is to promote modern technologies and research activities among farmers.

At a technical forum on the commencement of component IV analysis with researchers from 12 selected participating states, Adewumi explained that agriculture extension would be the major tool for the promotion of the ICT component.

Imo State Government has commenced discussions with some reputable interested industrialists in South Korea for the establishment of a Smart City Project which when completed, is expected to create over 500,000 jobs for the people of the state.

According to the Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Statistics, Dr. Christopher C. Osuala, the state government had already earmarked an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 hectares of land for the project which would gulp a whopping sum of 20 billion US Dollars.

Some of the current perceptions of on the nation’s land titling, ownership, possession and administration in Nigeria are that it is fraught with so much uncertainty, insecurity and bureaucracy that leave it operating at below optimal level for the substance of man and the nation’s economy.

Till date, land as it relates to titling has continued to generate controversy between the Federal and State government across the country because of lack of clearly defined legislation.

Most importantly the growing foreign influence on internal security in Nigeria cannot be overlooked especially with the ongoing reports that several mercenaries from the Chad basin are part of the growing network carrying out attacks in Nigeria's north eastern corner.

Last month, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), an arm of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), convened a stakeholders' meeting in Lagos, where it unveiled fresh plans to commence the implementation process of its 2013-2017 Strategic Management Plan (SMP) for the next five years, that will see telecoms services financing in rural communities.

Stakeholders in the telecommunications industry have identified inadequate fibre infrastructure, electricity and excessive regulations as impediments to electronic governance.

Speaking at Nigeria eGovernment Conference 2019, organised by DigiServe in Lagos, they said Africa still lagged behind with 37 per cent penetration in e-government process execution.

Operators in the nation's telecom sector, who lamented the failure of Nigeria to fully tap the existing capacity, are contending that with a preponderantly youthful population, the uptake of cutting-edge technologies and devices and the yearning for global economic and social inclusion is evident of the potential for exponential growth in demand for broadband services across the country.

Businesses in the country are increasingly embracing ICT solutions in a bid to support their growth initiatives and tap into the country’s booming online landscape.

According to latest reports by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country had over 75 million active internet subscriptions – presenting a huge market for online trade – one that Businesses in the country are keen to exploit.

The INEC Residence Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa, Mr Kasim Gaidam, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in Yola.

Gaidam said that the commission was currently sponsoring no fewer than 300 electoral and other senior officers for the ICT training at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola.

Sources told The Nation that 16 MDAs had keyed into the service; 18 are at the point of bridging the infrastructure gap and securing needed funds to begin the project that will allow them pay staff salaries and settle contractors online.

"It is good but the infrastructure have to be put in place. A company can have 35,000 customers operating in different banks, and will be credited or debited depending on the instruction at the same time. And the company can be using only one account. One can draw the money from the company’s account and distribute it to different beneficiaries. Today, 18 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will be joining the e-salaries. Also, 16 MDAs have already joined," the source said.

The impact of today’s rapidly changing economic and technological landscape has made government’s task of delivering public service more complex. More than ever before, governments all over the world have increasingly come under serious public scrutiny and fiscal pressure to deliver better outcomes to citizens, and to do so more efficiently. As is evident, Nigeria has not been spared from this in recent times. On the one hand, the dynamism presented by the impact of the interaction of economic, technological and other superintending elements in these scenarios have no doubt made governments’ public service delivery duties onerous. On the other hand, however, it has also opened up opportunities for the exploration of out-of-the-box strategies that governments can adopt if found to better the lot of their citizens.

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has pledged to remove all IT barriers to effective intergovernmental processes in the country. Speaking at the stakeholders’ engagement on Nigeria e-Government Interoperability Framework (Ne-GIF) held in Abuja yesterday, NITDA Director-General, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said “NITDA is committed to change the narrative by working closely with stakeholders to remove existing barriers caused by silo deployment of IT solutions.

“It is an-obvious fact that applying information technology (IT) for governance holds tremendous potential to improve the way governments deliver public services.

A statement by the Chief Executive Officer of Anchor Dataware Solutions (ADS), Mr. Joel Adi, added that the e-governance portal “will revolutionise the way government business is conducted, as it will improve commerce and industry, create employment opportunities and accelerate the economic development of the country”.

Experts that participated at a one-day conference held in Lagos, have said Nigeria needs unhindered internet access to grow e-Government initiatives.

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) who was represented by the Director of Public Affairs, NCC, Dr Henry Nkemadu, said: “To achieve e-Government across MDAs, there is need to increase the number of fibre connectivity deployment from the current 42,000km to 127,000km. Nigeria needs additional 30,000km of fibre infrastructure, aside the expectations from operators to expand fibre development.

The African Rebirth Vision International has expressed its willingness to build a Smart City in Abia to facilitate socio-economic development in the state.

The President of the organisation, Mr Chuka Nwokoro, said this on Friday during a meeting with Gov. Alex Otti of Abia in Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area.

Nwokoro said that the organisation had embarked on a mission to build a city that would be engineered by technology just like other smart cities in the world.

However, political parties and other stakeholders opposed the idea. They cautioned against jumping from the frying pan to fire. They submitted that e-voting had not insulated many countries from electoral fraud, pointing out that computer can also be manipulated to do the bidding of master riggers.

At various fora across the country last year, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and chief executive officers of government agencies in the maritime sector restated the Federal Government’s plan to establish a national single window (NSW) at the ports to facilitate clearance and export of goods. Oluwakemi Dauda examines some of the issues inhibiting the implementation of the NSW and efforts aimed at tackling them.

Despite promises made by the Federal Government last year and the previous one, Nigeria remains the only country without a single-window platform in Africa in an age where information technology drives every process. The country has continued to trail behind other African nations in the automation of processes at the seaports.

The need to grow Information Technology (IT) to a certain level that is good enough to benchmark its capabilities was the position of IT experts at the 61st edition of the Digital Jewels' Information Value Chain Forum held in Lagos recently.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Jewels Limited, Adedoyin Odunfa, who gave the assertion during her presentation on 'IT Maturity: Stimulants, Enablers and Inhibitors', said IT maturity assessments were in many shapes and sizes, including those in the of areas strategy, culture, governance, people, skills, transparency, risk management, security, processes, asset management, customer satisfaction and supplier management. She therefore said an IT maturity assessment was designed to benchmark current IT capabilities against a fixed scale.

A lot has been said about the application of information technology (IT) for governance holding tremendous potential to improve the way governments deliver public services. It, no doubt, facilitates seamless exchange of information among between MDAs’ IT infrastructure and application which is critical to cross-portfolio service delivery and public service transformation.

At the stakeholders’ engagement on Nigeria e-Government interoperability framework (Ne-GIF) convened by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in Abuja, the director general of NITDA, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami said applying information technology (IT) for governance held tremendous potential to improve the way governments deliver public services.