The Federal Government has called to attention the critical role of public-private partnerships in achieving significant improvements in public service delivery and reaching a 70 per cent digitalisation target by 2025.
This was articulated by Ibrahim Adeyanju, the Director General of Galaxy Backbone (GBB), during the one-day 1Government Cloud digitalisation retreat for Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in Abuja.
Adeyanju emphasized the government’s commitment to enhancing service delivery through a unified Government Service Portal, which will provide seamless access to services from all MDAs.
He said: “We expect collaboration within the public and private sectors to achieve 70 per cent digitalisation in Nigeria by 2025.”
To fulfil this mandate, GBB has introduced the 1Government Cloud initiative, a comprehensive framework combining infrastructure and software services aimed at digitalising MDAs.
The initiative supports the Federal Civil Service Strategy Implementation Plan 2025 (FCSSIP 25) by providing MDAs with the necessary software and secure data storage through a standardized, unified interface.
“The 1Government Cloud Software as a Service framework has been set up to enable the speedy digitalisation of the MDAs.
“We have evolved into a Cloud services and Integrated Technology Solution Company, acting as an enabler, platform, and aggregator of digital services,” Adeyanju noted.
Faruk Yabo, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, highlighted the importance of data sovereignty, emphasizing that Nigeria must govern its data wholly to ensure sensitive national data is secure.
“Data sovereignty rules must be wholly governed by Nigeria, ensuring that our sensitive national data is not subject to the regulations or access rights of other governments or foreign technology providers,” Yabo stated.
Yabo also stressed that embracing digitisation through partnerships with local Nigerian companies will bolster the economy and create jobs.
He noted that leveraging indigenous talent and solutions will not only enhance the Civil Service’s digital capabilities but also foster national economic growth and innovation.
The retreat, themed “Presidential Priorities 8: Improved Governance for Effective Service Delivery,” also discussed the need for MDAs to maintain their autonomy while contributing to a centralised digital framework.
Yabo advocated for secure integration through APIs over a secure network, enabling MDAs to request specific functional enhancements unique to their operations.
”This approach ensures a balance between uniformity and customization, encouraging local development and reducing dependency on expensive commercial software licenses,” he added.
