President Bola Tinubu has commenced the digitalization of Aso Villa, Nigeria’s seat of power in Abuja, under plans to lead by example in the realisation of his administration’s digital economy agenda.
Senator Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s Vice President, who disclosed this, said on Monday at the flag-off of the training on digitalization of workflow processes in the State House that the initiative fulfills President Tinubu’s promise to build an efficient workforce that is in tune with reality of leveraging technology.
The training is a compelling testament to the President’s steadfast adherence to the principle of leading by example, Shettima, who was represented at the opening ceremony of the training programme for staff on the Digitalization of Workflow Processes in the State House by Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), said.
The Vice President explained that, “at the inception of this administration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu articulated his promise to implement digital initiatives across seven pivotal areas: innovation, entrepreneurship, service provision, outsourcing, technology manufacturing, e-commerce, and the digitalisation of public service, underpinned by broadband and blockchain technologies.
Senator Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s Vice President.
Digitalization: VP explains goal of tech-driven workflow starting at Aso Villa
The goal of leveraging opportunities in machine learning and artificial intelligence to transform the entire public service, the VP said, “can’t be actualised unless those tasked with executing the tasks are in tune with reality.”
The Vice President explained that, “at the inception of this administration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu articulated his promise to implement digital initiatives across seven pivotal areas: innovation, entrepreneurship, service provision, outsourcing, technology manufacturing, e-commerce, and the digitalisation of public service, underpinned by broadband and blockchain technologies.
“This can’t be actualised unless those tasked with executing the tasks are in tune with reality, and so this is a compelling testament to Mr. President’s steadfast adherence to the principle of leading by example.”
The overwhelming paper-based bureaucracy within the civil service infrastructure is at odds with the demands of the present era, the Vice President said.
“It falls upon us,” Vice President Shettima said, “to serve as the conduit to a system redefined by the frontiers of machine learning and artificial intelligence, a system that calls upon us to utilise our natural intelligence to its fullest extent, and a system that challenges us to compete to build an efficient workforce that reflects the dynamic realities of our time.”
“We are fortunate to have a President who has declared that Nigeria will never be behind schedule in adopting disruptive technologies to improve our service standards, optimise expenditure, and accelerate responsiveness to the needs of our foremost customers—the Nigerian people. This revolution begins with us.”
Senator Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s Vice President.
According to him, “the status quo is no longer tenable; the world as we once knew it is undergoing a profound transformation. Like us, policymakers in other parts of the world are embracing digital technology as a catalyst for restructuring operational processes and streamlining decision-making.
“We are fortunate to have a President who has declared that Nigeria will never be behind schedule in adopting disruptive technologies to improve our service standards, optimise expenditure, and accelerate responsiveness to the needs of our foremost customers—the Nigerian people. This revolution begins with us.”
According to the Vice President, the training will equip staff to understand “the need for the digitalization of government processes, the procedures for handling sensitive government information, and how to respond to Nigerians seeking information from the government.”
Engr. Olufunso Adebiyi, Permanent Secretary in the State House, acknowledged the support of President Tinubu towards the training programme, in his welcome address to attendees at the event.
According to him, the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration highlights the President’s vision for the Nigerian workforce, which is to improve productivity in public service through deliberate digitalisation of the workforce and the entire operations.
“It is in line with this commitment that this training programme was approved by the President. The significance of starting this programme from the State House cannot be overemphasised as this is where the vision of the President is operationalised and transmitted to the larger Nigerian public service for greater productivity and improved service delivery,” Adebiyi said.
The goal is to commence the process and scale it across the civil service, believing that it will improve service delivery and overall productivity in the public service, according to the Permanent Secretary.
On his part, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), noted that information management is central to national security and governance.
According to Abubakar, “we hope that three things will be brought under focus in this training- acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge for efficient innovation, processing, transmission, storage, preservation and retrieval of information and data.
“The objective here is simply the improvement of manual systems, a better sense of organisation, first-class delivery of service and adoption of everything information technology offers for civil servants.”
He urged participants to take the capacity building programme seriously and give it the desired attention it requires.
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