★opens strategic Ai retreat for top civil servants
★set to upscale MDAs on unified sovereign cloud
Ogun State has embraced technology as a key driver of development as it positioned itself as a model for sub-national digital transformation in Nigeria.
Towards this end, the state is adopting total digitalisation of its Civil Service as Government begins the up scaling of its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on a unified Sovereign Cloud.
As part of this initiative, the Head of Service, Mr. Kehinde Onasanya, while declaring open a 2- day Executive Strategic Retreat on AI Leadership and Digital Transformation, put together by the State Government in partnership with GFA Technologies and supported by the United States Consulate General, for top echelons in the Civil/Public Service, at the Tech Hub in Abeokuta said the present administration of Prince Dapo Abiodun had placed optimal importance on innovation and digital transformation.
He said the vision of the State to use AI as a driven platform in critical sectors demonstrated a clear policy direction towards modernisation, as government had consistently invested in systems that enhanced efficiency and accountability.
"This retreat is a direct product of that vision as it reflects a leadership that understands the urgency of adapting to global technological shifts and also reflects confidence in the capacity of the Civil Service to evolve. We deeply acknowledge this support and recognised the responsibility it places on us to deliver results,’’ he said.
He reminded the participants of the necessity to move with the current realities of the operational environment by identifying barriers to efficiency that included delays in file movement, inefficiencies in memo processing and the challenges of accessing reliable data for decision making among others.
Mr. Onasanya said a modern government could not continue to rely on fragmented systems in an era defined by integration and automation as the demand of the time required tools that could match the complexity of governance, hence, the designing of the retreat to provide solutions to the identified challenges in the day to day operations of the participants.
He enumerated some bold steps the State had taken in the direction of AI applications such as the launch of the Ogun Learning Enhancement and Academic Resource Network known as OgunLearn, the introduction of AI enabled lesson planning tools and digital learning management systems within the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the development of Ogun State Spatial Data Infrastructure that had provided a centralised platform for managing and sharing geospatial data across Ministry Department And Agency (MDAs) thus, improving coordination and transparency amongst other things.
He urged the participants, comprising Permanent Secretaries, Accountant General, Auditors General, Director General, Principals General, Headmasters General as well as Chief Medical Director, amongst others to champion the expected innovation and remove institutional barriers by creating enabling environment where new ideas could thrive by participating actively in the training, share experience and approach the retreat with openness to new ideas.
On his part, the Convener and the Chief Executive Officer, GFA Technologies, Mr. Adebola Omololu, said the top government functionaries were attending the retreat to build solutions that would help all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Government in Ogun State to improve their operations and shore up their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
This was disclosed by the Special Adviser on ICT, Dayo Abiodun, at a
Meanwhile, at another 2-day strategic workshop organised for Heads of Ministries Departments and Agencies of the State Civil Service (MDAs) by the State government in collaboration with GetFunded Africa (GfA) and American Consulate also at Ogun TechHub, Abeokuta, the Special Adviser on ICT, Dayo Abiodun said the workshop was to acquaint civil servants with a new Digital Solution known as Ogun State Sovereign Cloud that would berth soonest at Ogun TechHub.
Dayo Abiodun, who was represented by the Director Standard Regulations Planning and Research, Mrs. Olatundun Adekunte, further explained that Sovereign Cloud is a localised data center, unifying government files, activities and Revenue Dashboards of all MDAs, eliminating jurisdictional risks that had plaque government efforts in securing its histories and classified documents.
"Over the years, Cloud have been perceived as a mysterious place to save data or documents which is mostly on foreign servers in foreign countries, governed by foreign countries and at times suffers jurisdictional risks. But am pleased to announce to you that Ogun State is changing the narrative, bringing the cloud home to Ogun techHub, Abeokuta. Histories and secrets of all MDAs will stay within our borders, under our watch. The Sovereign Cloud we have built with GfA has Military-Grade Encryption and Multifactor Authentication, making every single interaction logged,’’ he said.
Earlier, Ogun State Head of Service, Mr. Kehinde Onasanya, while declaring the event open, reiterated absolute compliance to digitalisation in Civil service, saying the workshop was necessary for Permanent Secretaries, Directors, so as to lead their MDAs with digital confidence.
Reacting, Permanent Secretary, Hospitals Management Board (HMB), Dr. Olayinka Elemide, said utilisation of the Local Data Centre would boost inter-agency communications, quick accessibility of files and memos, thus, enhance efficiency in the Civil service.
Also her Counterpart in the Ministry of Justice, Olusegun Olaotan, gave kudos to the State government and its Partners, saying, hosting all MDAs on the Sovereign Cloud was one of the proactive measures in tackling data breaches, leakage of government revenue and classified document which are in tandem with global best practices.
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