The Federal Government on Thursday announced its plans to achieve, in collaboration with the organized private sector, 70% digitalization of public governance services by next as part of its current drives to improve the efficiency of the nation’s public service.
The Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, a key agency of government in the digitalization agenda, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, gave this hint at a one-day retreat titled ‘1Government Cloud Digitalisation’ organized for officers in federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in Abuja.
The industry expert said that the vision of GGB as an agency of the Federal Government was to enhance service delivery for Nigerians through the provision of a single ‘Government Service Portal’ that will provide internet services from all MDAs nationwide.
According to him, to achieve this laudable goal, the agency has introduced the ‘1Government Cloud’ combining infrastructure with IT solutions to facilitate seamless service delivery in the public sector.
The GGB Managing Director explained that as a ‘Service Framework’, the technology was aimed at providing the federal MDAs with the software and secure data storage for their operations/
He clarified: “The vision can only be achieved through the speedy digitalization of the MDAs. For those of you who know us, you will agree with me that the newest entry to our cloud solutions is software as a service.
“The 1Government Cloud Software as a Service framework has been set up to enable the speedy digitalization of the MDAs.
“In the bid to fulfil our mandate, we have evolved into a Cloud services and Integrated Technology Solution Company, with operations related to being an enabler, platform and aggregator of digital services”, Adeyanju added.
Speaking at the forum, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr. Faruk Yabo, harped on the imperative for Nigeria to effectively administer her data sovereignty to ensure that sensitive national data, particularly those relating to the nation’s political economic security are not exposed cyber criminals.
He explained: “Data sovereignty rules must be wholly governed in Nigeria, ensuring that our sensitive national data is not subject to the regulations or access rights of other governments or foreign technology providers.
“This autonomy is crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of our national digital infrastructure”, he advised.
Noting that embracing digitalization through collaboration with indigenous companies will support ongoing drive towards sustainable growth of the Nigerian economy and create jobs, Yabo maintained that by leveraging indigenous talents and solutions the public service would not only enhance its digital capability but also foster national innovation.
He further pointed out that the public service was responsible for handling sensitive information about Nigeria and, therefore should be made secure and compliant with secured software solutions.
