Embracing Digitalisation Within the Public Service: The Past, Present, and Future

It is widely acknowledged that the effectiveness of governance in any nation is determined by the quality and output of its public sector. Unfortunately, the public sector in many African countries is inefficient, condemning citizens to poor public service delivery. Our theory of change at the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation is that if the African public sector is transformed into one that is effective, values-driven and results-focused, it will lead to a significant improvement in the continent’s socio-economic performance and result in better outcomes for its citizens. Therefore, as an organisation, we are committed to empowering public sector leaders to build a more efficient public sector and ultimately, achieve better public service delivery.

The inefficiency plaguing the Nigerian public sector is due to a number of factors, but key amongst these is the persistent use of manual work processes. Apart from a few exceptions such as the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), the Lagos State Civil Service, the Nigerian Immigration Service, and a few others who have digitalised their work processes, many public offices are still stuck in manual and as a result, accountability and efficiency are lacking across the sector.

Back in 2020, recognising the efficiency gains that could be achieved in the public sector from embracing digital technology, we began supporting the OHCSF on its digital transformation journey. We provided funding, strategic and technical support to facilitate the transition of the OHCSF from manual to digital, on a journey that included the following steps: document scanning (digitisation); development of standard operating procedures for work processes; ISO 9001 Certification to ensure effective quality management of work processes; work process automation, and finally digital upskilling of civil servants.  Simultaneously, using our work with the OHCSF as a template, we provided strategic and technical support to other Ministries who were embarking on the move from manual to digital.

The OHCSF digitalisation project began as a pilot in 2020 and was completed in 2023. Within this period, other projects have taken off, building on the gains and principles of process automation. The OHCSF now has an electronic workspace management system, is driving an automated performance management system across the Service and has also adopted a digitalised asset registry to reduce the spate of missing official devices. Significantly, a number of other MDAs such as the Ministries of Transport, Education and Health have also commenced their digital transformation journeys, signaling the advent of a more efficient Nigerian public sector. 

“The quality of public service is improving, though not perfect. Processes for generating passports and National Identification Number (NIN) have seen significant enhancements. The Foundation’s survey indicates improved response times and quality in various registries,” Chioma Njoku, the Foundation’s Director of Programmes, explained, while speaking on the transformation of Nigeria’s Civil Service, 25 years post-independence, on Radio Nigeria.

The transition from manual to digital work processes in the public sector is critical because it can curb the excesses associated with public offices. While digitisation ensures that data (documents, audio, video, etc.) are retained in a digital format for easy retrieval, digitalisation allows work to be done faster and cheaper, making business processes more efficient and more productive. It also enables transparency and accountability, allowing supervisors to track progress on tasks assigned while also eliminating the possibility of losing files, which is common with manual work processes. Digitalisation also reduces the duplication of job functions as the system provides enough data for a Ministry to determine the efficient number of staff required to carry out specific duties, thereby reducing redundancies. Expectedly, the digitalisation of the OHCSF has yielded tremendous results. Assessments from 2022 and 2023 show significant improvements in operational efficiency, cost reduction, and improved job performance among civil servants as a result of the digitalisation of their work processes, digital upskilling and the adoption of best practices.

A major challenge with digitalising the work processes within public offices is the low level of technological know-how among civil servants. To solve this problem, we partnered with Microsoft Philanthropies and Wootlab Foundation to train civil servants on how to incorporate technology into their work. To date, 175 civil servants have been digitally upskilled through this partnership with many more to come. While speaking on Radio Nigeria, Chioma clarified that no civil servant will be laid off due to digitalisation but rather for a lack of competence. Civil servants are, therefore, encouraged to ensure their relevance in the new digital by getting digitally upskilled.

 Over the next year, our work at the Foundation will be to ensure that as many ministries, departments and agencies as possible follow in the steps of the OHCSF and are fully digitalised. This will set the stage for the next stage of the journey, which is full public sector digital transformation. A digitally transformed public service is one in which public services are envisioned and implemented in a manner that eases the lives of citizens and improves the country’s productive capacity; where public services are rendered seamlessly to citizens irrespective of their geographical locations; where service beneficiaries do not have to input their details multiple times across different public and private agencies because their data would have been synchronised due to digitally enabled interministerial and interagency communication and collaboration; and where payments for government services are made digitally and seamlessly.

This public sector digital transformation has been achieved in many developed countries and developing countries such as India, Kenya and South Africa are not far behind on their transformation journeys. Clearly, digital transformation is the future of public service; Nigeria must commit to the process so that it does not get left behind.