The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says its efforts at streamlining as well as fast-tracking the process of the IT Projects Clearing House mandate has been fully automated.
The director general of the agency, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, disclosed this in a statement he personally signed, yesterday.
The agency had, in 2016, in line with its mandate to regulate the practice of Information Technology (IT) in the public sector, told Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other establishments of the Federal Government to submit for clearance all IT projects to be executed before commencement of such projects.
The clearance process is designed to, among others: track government spending in IT and ensure synergy in national investments; ensure the availability of accurate statistics on government’s IT assets and investments to help government make informed IT decisions; prevent mismanagement of public funds and development of projects in silos where significant resources can be integrated to save costs, promote shared services, interoperability and improve efficiency; and ensure that the technology being implemented is up to date and suitable for the country from the point of view of security and the environment.
Dr Pantami said: “The IT Projects Clearance regulation is designed to ensure that IT projects are properly conceptualized and executed in line with global best practices. Furthermore, it is designed to support Mr President’s fight against corruption by curbing the wastages and mismanagement of public funds on frivolous IT projects.
“The unanimous verdict of MDAs and other federal public institutions that have gone through the process is that, in addition to compliance with Federal Government’s directives, it is worthwhile and value adding. Furthermore, the process facilitated the saving of over N13 billion to the Federal Government’’.
The DG said the automation of the process enhanced transparency, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness in the process of obtaining clearance.
Henceforth, he said, MDAs, government owned companies and other federal public institutions are expected to submit their projects via the IT Projects Clearance portal.
It may be recalled that a Federal Government circular, 59736/S.2C.II/125 of 31st August, 2018, signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, mandated all MDAs to submit their IT projects for clearance by NITDA.
It stated that government agencies should ensure “…strict compliance as future non-compliance will be considered a violation, which will be appropriately sanctioned….”
Furthermore, President Muhammadu Buhari, during the 2018 edition of the e-Nigeria International Conference and Exhibition in November, directed that “Defaulters of IT clearance among the public establishments are to be reported to government.”
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