The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE, said that Technology is the backbone for growth and development in any country, especially now that the world is eyeing Fourth Industrial Revolution, making government processes and procedures transparent, accountable, easier and faster.
Abdullahi said that NITDA has trained and supported over 500 public servants between 3rd Nov. 2020 to 11th December, 2020 and presented to them Certificates of Participation.
The DG said this at the closing ceremony of the second batch of the Service-Wide Capacity Building on eGovernment (Professional Course) for public servants on grade level (08- 14) at the eGovernment Training Centre, (e-GTC), Kubwa, Abuja.
Represented by the Director, Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions, Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi, the DG noted that the training is ICT-based for transformation of governance and the delivery of government, and as well to provide public servants with the required knowledge and capacity towards the implementation of the eGovernment master plan in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for the growth and development of the country, he added.
“eGovernment Master Plan (EGMP) is the blueprint for the harmonization and integration of information and communications technology (ICT) efforts of the government.
“It builds on past experiences and plans while incorporating current aspirations to create a vision for the e-government of the future,” he asserted.
“Each and everyone of us is a champion of eGovernment master plan, when you go back to your various Ministries Departments and Agencies, share knowledge learnt from the training programme with two or more colleagues which will provide them with the needed knowledge for the implementation of the plan”.
“During the period of COVID-19, the Agency has done a lot with the aid of technological advancement like zoom, Cisco WebEx and other online platforms in the implementation of policies and strategies inline with the NCDC guidelines to cushion the effects of the pandemic, making alternative measures for the growth and development of the country,” he said.
He further said that the objective of e-government is to improve public service by building the infrastructure and shared services, automating processes, and providing online services to citizens and businesses.
Ability to offer an ever increasing portfolio of services to citizens in an efficient and cost effective manner.
This, according to him, will translate to a government that is not only digitally empowered but also digitally empowering by being integrated, transparent and responsive to societal needs.
“Through the EGMP, the government will simplify and re-engineer processes as needed, help make access to accurate information faster and less costly, and provide more transparency and greater accountability.
“In the end, this will help government make better decisions, and improve competitiveness.
“This time, a Resource Pooling Strategy will also be adopted to ensure that skilled manpower needed to operate new systems, programs and applications will be met,” added.
Mallam Abdullahi urged the participants to make good use of the skills they have acquired in providing technology services in their various Government Institutions, stating that the center is always open and free to be contacted by public at anytime for the swift growth of the nation.
One of the beneficiaries of the training from Ministry of Aviation, Mr Oluwale Lukman, applauded the efforts of NITDA in the areas of capacity building and deployment of IT centres across the country, with the zeal to deepen the penetration of Information Technology in Nigeria.
He assured, on behalf of other participants, that they will put into practice all they learnt in order to change the way things are done in building a better country.
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