E-governance, essential for public sector productivity – Alasoadura

The federal government has said that e-governance is essential for public sector productivity and efficiency.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Senator Omotayo Alasoadura, stated this when he flagged off the “Nigeria public sector productivity and innovation summit” in Abuja.

He said that government has made progress in providing essential and social services to the people, using electronic and digital tools and processes.

The minister noted that the use of e-governance “has made public service delivery far more effective and efficient, thereby pumping out remarkable public sector productivity.

“Deploying such technologies that meet today’s needs and anticipates the future, has brought government closer to the people, especially those who equally have proficiency in the use of information and communication technology.”
He however, said government needs to be proactive in adopting new technologies to enable it deliver effectively its monitoring, regulatory and oversight responsibilities over the private sector.

“It would be unimaginable for government to regulate banks and other businesses with technology-oriented business models if government lacks the necessary technology scope,” he added.

Alasoadura said that although, most of the development in technology “are focused on the private sector, the public sector should not be left behind,”as the government has the responsibility of developing and implementing rule-based policies for the private sector to thrive.

“The essence of the summit is to highlight how these enabling technologies are transforming government productivity and creating the market for new skills, knowledge and jobs in a complementary way, through which government institutions have been able to do more with less while delivering greater output with desirable speed and precision,” he added.

Alasoadura enjoined the participants to make maximum use of their time at the summit and multiply their productivity at their respective duty posts with the e-government tools acquired, for greater national productivity and growth.

In his address, Director-General, National Productivity Centre (NPC), Dr. Kashim Akor, said that e-governance has contributed immensely to public sector productivity in Nigeria.

He noted that government has been driving productivity, efficiency and transparency using such e-government deliverables as Treasury Single Account driven by Remita and Bank Verification Number (BVN), among others.