President Bola Tinubu has stated that Nigeria will use cutting-edge technology to digitize public services.
The President made this clear when he met with Oracle Global Vice President Andres Garcia-Arroyo at the State House in Abuja on Monday.
Tinubu indicated support for a new relationship with an American multinational cloud technology business to assure the accuracy and transparency of data from public institutions.
Nigeria’s President commended the company’s dedication to Nigeria’s civil service reform process and data management sector, while emphasizing the importance of increased knowledge transfer through the construction of academies and training institutes in the country.
In order to promote ease of doing business, digital innovation, effective identity management, efficient payroll administration, and qualitative citizen-centered service delivery, the President cited Oracle’s proven success in automating the Lagos State payroll system during his tenure as Lagos State Governor and lauded the positive impact of technological solutions in enhancing accountability and expediting service delivery timelines without sacrificing quality.
“I have tested Oracle and it has worked for our success. In Lagos State, what we did in effective collaboration with you, has been copied across the states of the Federation.
“We can only build our institutions with accurate data and cutting edge data management capabilities that are reliable and effective. We can only rely upon our human resources for excellent service delivery to Nigerians, if they are well trained and ready to learn.
“The transfer of knowledge is essential for our nation and the continent. In this government, we believe that the only way to build our country is a bottom-up-approach and from one single sheet of paper, we can create an end-to-end solution for public administration that will rid our service of its worst tendencies in favour of effectiveness and reliability,” the President said, according to a statement by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale.
Tinubu expressed alarm over Nigeria’s huge civil service payroll at both the national and sub-national levels, saying, “Every time they give me the payroll number, I get so scared.
“Where am I going to acquire the money to build the infrastructure that we sorely need if the payroll of 1% – 2% of the population consumes all of the revenue?
“I think we need a tight technological control that can check and balance all necessary control points of our transaction processes. I’m looking forward to working with Oracle because I have the belief and confidence that you can do it as you have in the past.”
