How technology can curb graft in public service, by HoSF Oyo-Ita

…As Hauwei flags off second phase of ICT for Change

Head of Service of the Federation (HoSF), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, has stressed the need to deploy technology in public service to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency.

Speaking yesterday at the flag-off of the second batch of the ‘ICT for Change’ programme by the federal government and Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, in Abuja, Oyo-Ita explained how technology could help to reduce corruption.

“If we deploy technology in the civil service system, the level of transparency and accountability will be very high. The less you have of human interference, the more we see improved accountability and transparency,” she said.

According to the HoSF, government plans to see an efficient, productive, incorruptible and citizen-centred public service.“We have a vision to develop an elite corps of civil servants who can compete favourably with their counterparts all over the world.“I commend Huawei for what they are doing.

“We want to dig out some hidden talents in the service. The participants are already talking about smart cities, e-government and decentralising data. They are so happy with what they are being exposed to,” she added.Media and Communication Manager, Huawei Technologies, Emmanuel Adereti, noted that the federal government and Huawei signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train 1,000 civil servants under the ‘ICT for Change’ programme.

He added that the first phase of the programme that commenced in January 2017 and ended in 2018 trained 2,000 Nigerian youths.The programme, he explained, is aimed at supporting the automation of government processes and bureaucratic procedures in the country to build a more efficient ecosystem, especially regarding enterprise content management solution.

Huawei, over the years, has been investing in ICT skills and capacity-building to boost employment, develop knowledge-intensive products and services as well as enhance the ICT skills of future generations, Adereti noted.He expressed the company’s commitment to work with government in the area of equipping civil servants with necessary knowledge for digital transformation.