CPN Advocates for Deeper ICT Use for Public, Private Engagements

The Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN) has advocated deeper use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities for improved efficiency and effective service delivery to Nigerians.

The Council confirmed that ICT has redefined life and living, adding that, ICT has become a major driver of operations in the private and public sectors of the economy, also contributing meaningfully to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

President/Chairman of CPN Council Mr Kole Ajagun, in his welcome address at the opening ceremony of the 2023 IT Professionals’ Assembly in Abuja, on Tuesday, with the theme “E-Government for Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance”, said that effective deployment of ICT facilities and professionals has yielded results and more would be achieved with deeper use and penetration.

He said: “Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is/was doing. Information maintained by the federal government is a national asset. The achievement of good governance in this digital age requires functional e-governance.

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“Adequate use of ICT serves as a catalyst to effective and efficient service delivery, quick response, accountability and transparency. Greater use of ICT and e-government platforms would, undoubtedly, increase governmental transparency, accountability and good governance.

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“This will, in turn, invite citizen participation, foster e-governance, and help nurture democracy. The realization or actualization of sustainable development cannot be possible without good governance.

“Drawing on the global, regional, and national experiences, the 2023 IT Professionals’ Assembly highlight the opportunities and challenges of building more innovations that can drive the economy of our nation.

“We envisaged that in years to come, Nigeria shall be a nation that has fully leveraged on, and harnessed the potentials of e-Governance for transparency, accountability, and good governance for the benefit of her economy and uplift the people.”

Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, in his remarks, highlighted numerous achievements and reforms that were made possible through the effective deployment of ICT in government business.

He said that ICT facilities have been deployed to deliver government services, exchange information, and engage with citizens, businesses, and other government entities.

He said: “This involves the digital transformation of traditional government processes, enabling electronic delivery of public services, the digitalisation of government processes, and the use of online platforms to facilitate interactions between government and citizens.

“It has promoted open government data initiatives and improved service delivery, in addition to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) that has been instrumental in removing ghost workers from the payroll and reducing more than N200 billion in waste.”

Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Dasuki Arabi, in his remarks, said that “as an engine of reform in Nigeria, we have taken up the challenge to use ICT to reinforce citizens’ confidence in governance through the introduction of federal government scorecard for ranking websites of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS).

“The scorecard has been enshrined in the National E-Government Masterplan as a vital index metric for standardization of government websites to fast-track Implementation of Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Policy, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and Nigeria’s commitments in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as well as manage the performance-expectation gap between government and citizens.

“The initiative, to a large extent has helped to drive the vision of masterplan which is to create a world class, open and digitized government that connects with people to drive efficiency in public administration, responsiveness of public services and transparency in government leading to improvement in the quality of life of Nigerians.”