Paper-based civil service hindering development – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima says the overwhelming paper-based bureaucracy within the civil service infrastructure is hindering development and at variance with the present administration’s agenda.

Shettima stated this on Monday at the opening of a training programme on digitalization of workflow processes for staff of the State House, held at the National Intelligence Agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Sen. Ibrahim Hadejia, the Vice President said the initiative was a testament to President Bola Tinubu’s adherence to the principle of leading by example.

He also said that the training was in fulfilment of President Tinubu’s promise to build an efficient workforce that was in tune with reality, leveraging technology.

“The goal of leveraging opportunities in machine learning and artificial intelligence to transform the entire public service can’t be actualized unless those tasked with executing the tasks are in tune with reality.

“At the inception of this administration, President Bola Tinubu articulated his promise to implement digital initiatives.

“The initiative will be implemented across seven pivotal areas: innovation, entrepreneurship, service provision, outsourcing, technology manufacturing, e-commerce, and the digitalization of public service, underpinned by broadband and blockchain technologies,” he said.

The Vice President added, “These can’t be actualized unless those tasked with executing the tasks are in tune with reality.

“So, this is a compelling testament to Mr. President’s steadfast adherence to the principle of leading by example.

“It falls upon us to serve as the conduit to a system redefined by the frontiers of machine learning and artificial intelligence.”.

Shettima said that the status quo was 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,” he said.

The Vice President expressed the hope that the training would equip staff members to understand the need for the digitalization of government processes.

Shettima also said that the training would equip workers with the procedures for handling sensitive government information and how to respond to Nigerians seeking information from the government.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of State House, Mr. Olufunso Adebiyi, acknowledged the support of President Tinubu for the training programme.

According to him, the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration highlights the President’s vision for the Nigerian workforce to improve productivity in public service through deliberate digitalization 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 for the State House cannot be overemphasised, as this is where the vision of the President is operationalized and transmitted to the larger Nigerian public service for greater productivity and improved service delivery.

“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,” Adebiyi said.

Also, the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Amb. Ahmed Rufai, noted that information management was central to national security and governance.

“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.”

Rufai urged participants to take the capacity-building programme seriously and give it the desired attention.

Also present at the event was the Director-General of the State Security Service, Malam Yusuf Bichi, who was represented by the Director of Training and Staff Development.