The Director-General, National Productivity Centre, Dr Kashim Akor, has said that Nigeria must key into the e-Government Master Plan of the Federal Government to enhance productivity in all sectors of the society.
Akor spoke on the sidelines of the Nigeria Public Sector Productivity and Innovation Summit in Abuja on Tuesday.
He described e-government as the use of ICT by governments to enhance the quality of information and services provided to citizens, businesses, civil society organisations, and other government agencies in an efficient, cost-effective and convenient manner.
According to him, the world is currently being driven by technology and Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind if it must increase growth, development and innovation in public service delivery.
“The whole world now is technology-driven, Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind; productivity is key as far as growth is concerned. In every sector, both private and public, you need productivity, so we must look for various tools and techniques to improve productivity.”
He said that the e-Government Policy of the Federal Government, which was in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, would put Nigeria back on track for sustainable growth.
He added that the e-government policy implementation would improve quality of life of citizens as it would enhance national competitiveness, facilitate market economy, promote participatory democracy, and improve transparency in the public sector.
“One thing that the last economic recession taught the country is that the economy can be shattered when it is predictable and less-diversified, especially since no economic productivity can work without innovation,” he said.
Akor highlighted ICT innovations to include Treasury Single Account and Bank Verification Number, saying that the two innovations were part of the success stories targeted at changing the narratives of economic development and reducing financial leakages.
“The innovations have remarkably cut costs, time and logistics usually put to use when conducting such transactions in the past.
“They have also freed up a lot of resources hitherto employed wastefully, both on the part of government and private economic actors.”
The director-general said that driving government business on the internet and other ICT platforms had been made possible, faster, flexible and cheaper.
NAN reports that the summit is premeditated on the need to leverage science, technology and innovation to build a knowledge-based economy and to improve efficiency of service delivery in the Nigerian public service.
