Speed up Digitalization Process, Yemi-Esan Orders MDAs
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan has called on all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to be up to speed in the implementation of the digitalisation process being championed by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. She stated this while declaring open a One-day Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Solution Roundtable and Workshop organised for Directors of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Procurement and Human Resource Management across all MDAs in the Federal Civil Service.
While applauding the transformative Permanent Secretaries for their efforts in driving digitalisation process, the Head of Service urged them to ensure that they are not left behind in the process as the Office will very soon stop accepting hard copies from MDAs. She maintained that there is the need for effective coordination at the highest level of administration, reiterating that with ECM deployment is being carried out in phases, therefore, urging MDAs to follow the laid down processes before rushing to procure software solutions.
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She shared some of the step-by-step implementation processes undergone by the Office prior to arriving at the present stage. As a first major step towards digitalisation, a Culture Change Joint Project Committee was set up to deliver ECM solutions, which carried out activities such as the review of the then status of ECM solution across MDAs, reviewed documents and functional technical requirements, requested for proposal for the appointment of Service Providers, developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which were very critical to the deployment of ECM amongst others.
Dr. Yemi-Esan further encouraged MDAs to train their staff to be computer savvy, stressing that in the journey of digitalisation, capacity is critical and as such computer literacy is now mandatory for all Federal Civil Servants, adding that “you are either on the Digital Train or you will be left at the Train Station.” She mandated the Directors of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement to take full charge in driving the process to fruition in their various MDAs.
Earlier in his Welcome Address, the Permanent Secretary, Service Policies and Strategies Office, Dr. Emmanuel Meribole intimated participants that ECM is one of the pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021 – 2025 (FCSSIP25), which aims at strengthening the Service to grapple with future challenges in the workplace. According to him, the workshop is to deepen understanding of the standards required for a seamless deployment of ECM solution.
The workshop witnessed five (5) presentations from the Director ICT, OHCSF, Mr. Dada who took the participants through an overview of the ECM from inception (2017) till date and the successes recorded in its implementation by the OHCSF; the second lecture was delivered by a representative of the Director-General, NITDA, Dr. Usman Abdullahi, who dwelled on “The modalities of Software Clearance on the Implementation of ICT in MDAs”; the third was by the Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone (Nig.) Ltd, Prof Mohammed B. Abubakar, on “Importance of Functional Network for an Efficient Enterprise Content Management and an Update on LAN Upgrade in MDAs,” while the fourth lecture was delivered by the Chairman, Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede who spoke on the Benefits of Digitalisation: A Private Sector Perspective, where he took the participants through the imperative of “Attitudinal Change” to the success of any reform. He expressed great optimism that the Nigeria Civil Service will surely get it right and be able to compete with its counterparts around the world, adding that “it will only take the right attitude to implement ECM successfully” and finally, the OHCSF ECM vendor, Secured Records Management Solution, in his presentation showcased the software procured for use by the OHCSF, which is a Laserfiche solution and its effectiveness in the implementation of ECM.
M .A. Ahmed,
Deputy Director, Communications.
19th July, 2022.
