Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, said that the implementation of the service-wide enterprise content management (ECM) solution, organized by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, will result in an annual saving of about 4.5 billion naira in Nigeria.

According to a statement issued yesterday by NITDA Spokesperson, Hadiza Umar, the move will also accelerate the digitization and delivery of content service platforms across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in realizing a Nigeria digital.

Inuwa, who was represented by Director, Information Technology Infrastructure Solutions (ITIS), Dr. Usman Gambo Abdullahi revealed this while presenting a paper at the one-day roundtable workshop at the scale of ECM service on ECM Implementation with topic “The Modalities of Software Clearance on ECM Solution for MDAs” at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.

While emphasizing the importance of implementing ECM, Inuwa said it is a critical success factor that any business needs to survive in this modern and competitive post-COVID-19 world. to facilitate information availability, agile business processes, and compliance with government regulatory requirements.

He added that ECM addresses the limitations and provides the capabilities needed to efficiently and effectively manage the challenges imposed by the demanding business demands of the modern world.

He said: “Constraints such as the complexity of massive volumes of variant data and information that exist in a wide range of formats, complex and extensive business processes spanning business functions and partners around the world, the need for Integration and interoperability, achieving compliance with legal and regulatory requirements should be resolved through the implementation of ECM.
“Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) and other government establishments are not left behind in this pursuit of digital transformation excellence, which is in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria ( NDEPS 2020-2030) as well as the Federal Government Public Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025 (FCSSIP 2021-2025).
“The digitization of government processes facilitates transparency, efficiency, productivity, participation, inclusiveness, cost savings and competitive advantage, which ultimately results in the social and economic development of a country like Nigeria. Therefore, digitizing government processes is no longer a choice, but a necessity for any country aiming for development.
ECM is used to manage information throughout its lifecycle, in line with the NDEPS Digital Services Development and Promotion Pillar, among others,” he added.
According to the NITDA boss, some of the benefits of ECM for REITs include saving employees time extracting information from physical paper documents, reducing the cost of file storage and paper requirements , and strengthening security by ensuring confidentiality, integrity, availability and increased regulation. compliance.
He referred to Federal Government circular No. SGF/6/S.19/T/65 of April 18, 2006, which ordered all federal public institutions planning to embark on any IT project to obtain authorization from NITDA. This directive was re-issued on August 31, 2018 with circular number 59736/S.2/C.II/125, reiterating the need for all REITs and other government establishments to liaise and obtain clearance before proceeding. embark on any IT project.
He noted that to ensure seamless implementation of this mandate, NITDA issued a guideline on IT project approvals in line with the need for a coordinated, standardized and orderly approach to the deployment of IT systems by REITs.
He disclosed that a total of 258 projects from 97 REITs representing a total investment of N152,043,373,117.25 were approved in 2021 and a total of N24,403,266,842.86 was saved for the government la same year.
Given the huge success of the IT project authorization process, the Federal Executive Council, at its meeting on March 9, 2022, approved that REITs must obtain a certificate of quality assurance from NITDA for any IT project. authorized up to N1,000,000,000.00 or more, before project closure. This is to further strengthen the realization of the value of government investment in digital transformation.
The Head of Civil Service’s ECM project went through the NITDA IT clearance process. The project was authorized on February 23, 2022 after satisfactorily meeting all requirements, including extensive engagement with the technical staff of the Office of the Head of Civil Service as well as the potential service provider.
The CEO concluded that ECM is the key to transforming REITs into a digital and automated environment where any work process can be created and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information is guaranteed.
While applauding the Federation Department Head’s initiative to set the pace for the implementation of ECM, Inuwa called on all REITs to participate in this initiative and submit their ECM projects for clearance by NITDA.
In her opening remarks, the Head of Unit, Folashade Yemi-Esan, explained some of the processes that went into implementing GCED. She said her office set up a Culture Change Joint Project Committee in July 2020.
The committee provided the solution, downgraded the status of ECMs in various local government areas, conducted a review of the functional and technical requirements of the ECM platform, developed an RFP for service provider procurement, and pursued the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at the Head of Service office and all other LGAs and also considered deploying infrastructural support for the effective implementation of ECM.
She added that a change and communication management team has been established to carry out risk management of ECMs and that 16 MDAs and LGA staff and the office of the Chief of Service, through collaboration and in support of the Federal Ministry of Communications and the Digital Economy, have already been formed.