While some state governments are yet to realise the importance of Information and Communications Technology ICT) to the development of their state’s economy and tne people, the Oyo state government has taken it upon itself to build a digital economy through massive deployment of ICT infrastructure and digital skills training for civil servants in the state.
These, according to the Special Assistant to the governor on ICT and E-governance, Mr. Adebayo Akande, have led to the digitisation of many government services in the last two years of Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration.
Highlighting some of the critical projects that have set the state on the right path to digitisation, Akande said the administration kick-started with the mass training of civil servants in digital skills and use of the digital collaborative and productivity tools. In addition, he said the government also rolled out official email addresses with @oyostate.gov.ng extension for all civil servants and ensuring its usage is mandatory.
“In the last two years, we have also rolled out data warehousing and data infrastructure in Oyo state where all government data and documentation will be domiciled and accessed in real-time”. He added that the state has also commenced the digitisation of land procurement, survey, and certificate of ownership processes.
According to Akande, other digital projects executed by the administration in the last two years include fibre optic cable rollout across the entire secretariat for high-speed internet & intranet connectivity in the secretariat; large scale procurement of 1,939 computer, printers, and UPSes for civil servants; and digitisation of recruitment process with the Oyo State job portal which has put a stop to nepotism and brought about an improved user experience. The portal is said to have processed over 300,000 applications so far.
He added that the government has also commenced the process of digitilisation of all paper files for complete business process automation while implementing an Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) and E-procurement platform for efficient contracting transparency and online procurement. He further disclosed that the state has also carried out biometric registration and verification of all government workers, pensioners, and ad-hoc staff.
The state, he said, had also organised Oracle Academy training on java fundamentals and database management to all its Computer Science teachers, who will, in turn, train their students, as Programming Languages is introduced to secondary schools’ curriculum in the State (java fundamentals and database management).
Corroborating this, the Country Programmes Manager, Oracle Academy Sub-Sahara Africa, Mr Sefunmi Fadahunsi, said that the government partook of the partnership agreement Oracle signed with the Federal Ministry of Education to advance Computer Science Education in Nigeria and, “we are glad at the quick adoption from Oyo State. Teacher Training has been delivered to pilot Teachers who will multiply and transfer this knowledge to Students and also adopt the knowledge and curriculum in their teaching. This is an exemplary progress.”
Commenting on the landmark achievements of the State in the area of ICTs, the Chief Executive Officer of Presto Integrated Solutions, Mr. Chris Okafor, said “the future-oriented and visionary government of Mr Seyi Makinde deemed it fit to setup a fibre optic network all over the Oyo state secretariat to enhance staff productivity and efficiency.”
“The government deployed fibre to the office (FTTO) network which provides an excellent platform for ultra-high speed access technologies and is designed to move high data, video and voice traffic within and outside the Oyo state government secretariat. Every building in the secretariat is wired to the fibre backhaul and users connect to the network wirelessly without any hindrances or encumbrances,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of DSPL Limited, one of the Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCos) licensed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Tunde Balogun, has commended the Oyo State Government for its bold move on the implementation of data protection. According to Balogun, with the statewide adoption of data protection across all MDAs and compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), Oyo is leading other 36 states including the FCT as a pacesetter.
Similarly, in recognition of the giant strides of the government in ICT development in the last two years, a socio-political and non-governmental group, ‘Young Professionals for Good Governance,’ had recently lauded Governor Seyi Makinde, describing him as a role model in Nigeria in general and the Southwest in particular.
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