NITDA develops framework to digitalise government services

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has developed a draft framework that would help government to be more digitally inclined in line with the country’s National e-government Master Plan.

Known as “Draft Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture” (NGEA), the operating model articulates how government is going to adapt and use IT to drive its businesses and different sectors of the economy, while the Enterprise Architecture framework ensures people, process, technology and other resources are better aligned with IT through standardised interoperable technology platforms.

The Director-General of NITDA, Isa Ibrahim Pantami, who disclosed this in Abuja, said that even though IT projects of some federal public institutions have significantly advanced individually, experience has shown that as each institution increases its IT investments and widens the scope of e-government services, IT systems are getting more complex with many problems emerging.

Pantami stated that IT adoption in Nigeria faces a lot of challenges ranging from inadequate basic infrastructure to insufficient human capital and required skills to effectively implement ICT solutions.He observed that ICT needs to be integrated into all government development and transformation reforms and plans, adding that foundation for execution requires a strategic framework that articulates how IT could be deployed and coordinated in government to create expected value.

Pantami noted that that the implementation of the framework will bring about reduction of cost of IT investment, responsive, and efficient service delivery, and also ensure that IT help build capabilities to be leveraged to drive innovation in different sectors of the economy.

He explained that the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture provides a clear road map for achieving a Whole of Government (WoG) and Government Digital Transformation (GDT), stressing that going digital is the optimal route to attaining that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).