Lagos State Government has assured on its readiness to continue to provide the needed leadership to fast track the process of full adoption of eGoverment.
Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu gave the assurance on Tuesday in Lagos at the Nigeria eGoverment Summit 2020, themed: ‘’COVID-19: Impetus for Accelerated eGoverment Adoption’’
The governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, added that his administration will continue to drive the adoption of technology in governance by sustaining investment in IT infrastructure.
“Given the global shift from the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government has deployed innovation and technology strategies in rendering e-government services.
“The ongoing pandemic has broadened our knowledge of the significant role technology could play in the life of every human being as most people have adopted the online means of going about their daily activities,” he said
The governor said that the state government had partnered with a wide range of technology companies, particularly technology start-ups, to implement a wide array of solutions, including the medical and healthcare response to the pandemic and the government’s service delivery.
Sanwo-Olu noted that due to the outbreak of Covid-19, there had been an accelerated acceptance of technology as an enabler, and its deployment in every aspect of human activities to drive efficiency and effectiveness.
“Adopting innovative and technology driven idea has, therefore, become a strategy that has been embraced for survival and improved service delivery.
“I urge all to take advantage of this opportunity to migrate our governance activities, through digitization, to improve quality of public service delivery provided through MDAs at all levels,” he said
Also speaking at the occasion, the Gov. of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, explained that his administration leveraged on ICT to boost productivity and enhance the governance of the people.
Represented by the Secretary of the State Government, Dr Emmanuel Ekwem, the governor noted that technology was maximized for suspected Covid-19 patients across the state at the height of the pandemic.
Udom also disclosed that telemedicine was adopted, while treatment from consultation, diagnosis, laboratory test, prescription to patient care were all automated, to ensure optimal for the people.
Earlier, in his address of welcome, the convener and Chairman, DigiServe Network Services, Mr Lanre Ajayi, tasked the government to leverage information technology to drive governance, saying that some of the current challenges facing the Nigerian government could be solved, using technology.
“Online transactions and limited face-to-face contact between government and citizens can limit corruption. Also, corruption can be reduced through transparent audit trace and records for every transaction with future references’’, he said.
In his keynote address, Dr Sehinde Oladapo, Chairman, Nigeria Aviation Handling Company and Managing Director, GMT Energy, stressed the need to embrace the concept of eGovernment, which, he said, was the use of tools and systems made possible by ICT to provide better public services to citizens and businesses.
“This year would have been worse if we didn’t have technology. Business is unusual because we had technological support. We could work from home, carry out most of our banking and business transactions online’’, he said.
Oladapo noted that effective eGovernment also involved rethinking organisations, processes and changing behaviour so that public services are delivered more efficiently to the people who need them.
“If implemented well, e-Government enables all citizens, enterprises and organisations to carry out their business with government more easily, quickly and at lower cost. He added.
He noted that the more delays in the roll-out and adoption of technology as a business enabler, the more money the government loses every year, as government could generate large amounts of revenue through the adoption of technology. (NAN)
