National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has projected that digitisation of service delivery and implementation of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will save about N4.5 billion annually.
The Director-General of NITDA, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, said this in a statement recently, issued by Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations in Abuja.
Inuwa, represented by Dr Usman Gambo, Director, IT Infrastructure Solutions (ITIS) at a one-day ECM Service-Wide Round Table Workshop on ECM implementation with the topic “The Modalities of Software Clearance on ECM Solution for MDAs”.
ECM is being organised by the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) as a success factor required by any enterprise to survive and remain competitive in post-COVID-19 era.
Inuwa said it would aid information availability, agile business processes and conformity to governmental regulatory requirements.
He added that ECM would address limitations and provide the capabilities to effectively and efficiently manage challenges imposed by the demanding business requirements of modern world.
“Constraints such as complexity of massive volumes of variant data and information that exists in a broad array of formats, complex and extended business processes spanning the business functions and partners around the globe and others can be resolved by the implementation of the ECM.
“The Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) and other government establishments are not left out in this pursuit of digital transformation excellence.
“It is in line with National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria (NDEPS 2020-2030), the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025.
“Digitalisation of government processes facilitates transparency, efficiency, productivity, participation, inclusiveness, cost savings, and competitive advantage, which ultimately translates to social and economic development for a country like Nigeria.
“Digitalisation of government processes is a must for any country aiming for development and ECM is used to manage information throughout its lifecycle, in line with the Digital Services Development and Promotion Pillar of NDEPS, among others,” he added.
According to him, some of the benefits of ECM to FPIs include saving employees’ time for mining information from physical paper documents, reduced cost of file storage and paper needs, among others.
He recalled that the FG issued a circular No SGF/6/S.19/T/65 of April 18, 2006 that directed all FPIs planning to embark on any IT project to obtain clearance from NITDA.
The D-G said the directive was reissued on Aug. 31, 2018 with Circular Number 59736/S.2/C.II/125, reiterating the need for all FPIs and other government establishments to relate with and obtain clearance before embarking on any IT project.
He said that to ensure seamless implementation of the mandate, NITDA issued a guideline on IT project clearance in line with the need for a coordinated, standardised and orderly approach to the deployment of IT systems by FPIs.
He disclosed that a total of 258 projects from 97 FPIs amounting to a total investment of N152,043,373,117 were cleared in 2021 and a total of N24,403,266,842 was saved for the government in the same year.
“In consideration of the tremendous success of the IT Projects Clearance process, the Federal Executive Council, at its sitting on the March 9, 2022, approved that FPIs must obtain a Quality Assurance Certificate from NITDA for any cleared IT project that is up to N1,000,000,000 or more, prior to the closure of the project.
“This is to further strengthen the value realisation of government investment in Digital Transformation. The Head of Civil Service’s ECM project has passed through the NITDA’s IT clearance process.
“The project was granted clearance on Feb. 23, after satisfactorily meeting all the requirements, including thorough engagement with the technical personnel from the OHCSF as well as the potential Service Provider,” he said.
While applauding the initiative by Head of Service of the Federation in setting the pace for implementation of ECM, Inuwa called on all FPIs to key into the initiative and submit their ECM projects for clearance by NITDA.
The Head of Service, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, in her remarks, stated that OHCSF set up a culture change joint project committee in July 2020, adding that it reduced the status of ECMs in various local government areas.
Yemi-Esan further said that it reviewed of the functional and technical requirements of the ECMs platform, developed request for a proposal for the procurement of the service provider, and did develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the OHCSF.
“They looked at deploying infrastructural support for the effective implementation of ECM.
“A change and communication management team was established to conduct risk management of ECMs.” Some 16 MDAs, staff in LGAs and the OHCSF in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy have already been trained.
