Cross River adopts e-governance, targets massive annual savings – Commissioner

The Cross River State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Justin Beshel, says the state is on course to saving billions of naira annually with the e-governance project.

Dr. Beshel disclosed this during the opening of a three-day Capacity Building Program for Digital Government in Nigeria.

The training is co-hosted by the Korean government, the Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, and the Cross River State Ministry of Science and Technology.

Dr. Beshel said, “The present administration is interested in going paperless and digital in the discharge of its duties.

“Every day, papers are rolled out from one small office to the other, and this amounts to millions monthly and billions of naira annually.

“The state government will not continue to buy papers, and this will reduce the cost of governance.

“The ease with which work is done when we go into e-governance cannot in any way be compared with when we use paper.”

He charged the 110 civil servants who were selected for the training to make the most of it, as they will be expected to step down the knowledge acquired to others.

Etieka Lawrencia Ita, the State Commissioner for Establishment, Training, and Pension, declared the training open on behalf of the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu.

She disclosed that society is very dynamic and only change is constant and charged the selected trainees to make the most of the knowledge gained.

Also speaking, Idongesit Eteng, the Director of ICT at the University of Calabar, said ICT is the way to go.

She also disclosed that the training will help the participants understand how the system works and the way forward.