Digitalising MDAs’ operations will prevent fraud, improve economy — Minister

Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani has revealed that digitising the operations of ministries, departments, and agencies will help curb fraudulent activities in government operations.

He emphasized that digitalizing MDAs’ operations will prevent fraudulent activities and ensure that government priorities are consistently aligned and contribute to economic improvement.

The minister made these remarks during the meeting of the Nigeria National Council of ICT Heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday.

The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm and provide advice to the minister on the most effective ways to digitize the operations of MDAs and other structures of the government in the country.

The gathering particularly highlighted the immediate need for ICT infrastructure to facilitate data sharing among government agencies.

Tijani also mentioned that his vision for achieving digitalization is codenamed DPI–Digital Public Infrastructure.

“Sharing of data is not just about fraud; the matter of data sharing in government is about effectiveness. If we share data appropriately, for example, the humanitarian ministry can truly understand Nigerians who are poor and need resources, allowing them to target their intervention to serve these people.

If data is shared seamlessly and appropriately, we can know how many kids are in primary and secondary schools. If interventions are needed to support them, it becomes a lot easier to provide that support.

“If we share data appropriately, we can even understand how people are moving between states in Nigeria. This way, when there is a need to increase the capacity to support people, we can do it quickly and seamlessly.

“The power of data sharing is about enabling different parts of the government to function effectively because what you do in education affects what you do in health, what you do in transportation affects what you do in security.

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But if we don’t share that data, each entity will struggle to get information on the people they need to serve. That’s why we are prioritizing it as a government,” Tijani explained.

The minister further called on stakeholders and participants in the program to support the innovation to achieve true and speedy success.

“In serving people better, we must use technology to make it easier for people to access the services that the government provides.

It is important to bring everyone responsible for technology within the Federal Government together to provide leadership for how we use that technology,” he said.

Speaking on the readiness of the government to kickstart digitalization, the minister stressed: “We have had great technologies. NIMC, for instance, people are registering.

We have telecommunication companies, which means that one can track a caller, but the challenge that we have always had is that these things have been done in silos, they don’t speak to one another, and that is where data sharing comes in.

“DPI is going to lead us to one thing, which is a one-government platform. If we do DPI very well, we should have a single website where, if you want to access any government service, that should be where you go. Once we have our DPI in place, it means that more of the services that Nigerians consume will become digitized.”

When asked about the likely launch date for this innovation, the minister said: “At the moment, there are still many things that we should have digitized.

Once DPI is in place, it makes it a lot easier for people to digitize their services. We should start to see these benefits in the next 12 months; we would start to see changes in the way technology is being used by the government.”