All is in place to kick-start the second phase of the e-Government projects by the Federal Government and the Republic of Korea, after a successful implementation of the first phase within the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, made this known when he received delegates from the Korea International Corporation Agency, (KOICA) led by its vice president, Mr. Song Woon-yeob, who was on a working visit to the e-Government Training Centre (eGTC) in Abuja to discuss implementation structure for the intended second phase.
Represented by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr. Bitrus Nabasu, Pantami said the centre which was handed over to Nigeria in 2019 is equipped with three lecture halls and other facilities that have helped in facilitating e-government programmes.
According to him, before the hand-over, five courses were developed and lecture content for Executive Course I, Executive Course II, professional course, e-Security, e-Government project planning and development were developed. Nine other e-Government training sessions were held, with over 1500 participants graduating.
“I am happy to announce to you that upon the handing over of this centre to the ministry in 2019, the e-Government training centre had graduated close to 1000 participants despite the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 and the sessions are still ongoing.
“We believe there is room for improvement in the target number of participants and we are working assiduously towards that,” he said.
Earlier, Woong-yoeb noted that there are two very important enablers needed to successfully implement the second phase of the e-Government project – the implementation structure, which is having an institutional foundation in the form of a Presidential Implementation Council and the strong leadership of the ministry of communications and digital economy as a coordinator.
“Without this kind of infrastructure – the Presidential Implementation Council and the strong leadership of the honourable minister – it will be very difficult for us to implement the second phase,” he stated.
He added that KOICA was very impressed and set to proceed with the second phase of the e-Government projects based on the outcome of the first phase of the e-Government project in Nigeria.
“This e-Government Training Centre is one of the best by KOICA. This is why we signed another record of discussion last August to embark on the second phase of the e-Government projects here in Nigeria,” he said.
He added that, during the first phase, the agency prepared the master plan for e-Government here in Nigeria and would like to do some more with close collaboration in the second phase.
In attendance were the director-general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, represented by NITDA’s director, IT infrastructure solutions, Dr. Usman Abdullahi; director, e-Government Training Centre, Prof. Suleiman Mohammed; KOICA country director, Mr. Woo Chan Chang, amongst others.
