Nigeria, Korea sign $13m MoU for full e-governance by 2026 

The Nigerian Government says it plans to fully digitalise its processes, particularly in the Civil Service and other government institutions.

Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isah Pantami, said this on Thursday when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Government for a $13m e-governance initiative.

The initiative, sponsored by the Korean Government, is the second phase of e-governance support to Nigeria and is expected to be completed by 2026.

The initiative would be implemented by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to support Nigeria’s e-Governance Masterplan.

The $13million initiative is tagged “Project for Building Foundations Towards Digital Governance in Nigeria”, and is to run from 2020 to 2021.

The project is coming on the heels of the completion of phase one of the initiative which was an $8.5million project.

The Minister hailed the achievement of the Korean Government in the area of Government Digital Service, highlighting that Nigeria could adopt a similar model.

Pantami also expressed government’s gratitude for the numerous support of the Korean government to advance Nigeria’s e-governance. 

The Minister said that “the first phase of the project, which lapsed in 2019, was very successful with the establishment of an e-governance training centre.”

He noted since completion of the centre, over 1,000 government officials had been trained there with KOICA also sponsoring Nigerians to study in Korea in the area of digital governance.

He said; “Over 1,000 civil servants have benefitted from the training and many of them are at advanced training in the area of e-governance.

“On behalf of the Nigerian Government of Nigeria, we are most appreciative and thankful to the Republic of Korea for the donation of the e-governance training centre.

“We are also thankful to Korea Republic for sponsoring some of our citizens, particularly the civil servants, to attend trainings in the Republic.”

“We appreciate what you plan to spend on e-governance by signing this agreement today.

“I hope that at the end of the second phase, we will be able to achieve ful digitalisation of our activities and processes, particularly in our civil service and Federal Government institutions,” he stated.

Pantami said the signing of the MoU further buttressed the point that the government of the Republic of Korea was the number one country supporting Nigeria in the area of e-governance.

The Minister recalled his visit to Korea for a telecommunication conference, noting that what Korea had achieved in digital governance was very remarkable.

“Korea’s governance digital services are supposed to be models to be adopted here in Nigeria,” Pantami said.

The said Korea was the most connected country in the World.

ICT growth
The Country Director, Korea International Cooperation Agency, KOICA, Mr Woo-Chan Chang said the Korean government had recognised the tremendous growth of the ICT sector in Nigeria under the leadership of Pantami and is willing to share its experience and expertise with the Nigerian Government.

“We recognise that last year, the ICT sector in Nigeria recorded the highest growth among other sectors.

“I want to see Nigeria’s IT sector to continue to grow together with KOICA.

“Today is a very important day for us to continue to help the Nigerian Government and the people,” the Ambassador said.

For his part, the Country Director of KOICA in Nigeria,  Mr Woochan Chang said the aim of the project was to assist the country in digitalising governance.

Woochan said; “On behalf of the Korean government, we support Nigeria’s social and economic development.

“One of our interest is to assist Nigerian government’s endeavor to make governance more efficient, more transparent and its service should be to the people’s needs.

“To that end, Korean government through KOICA is assisting Nigerian government’s endeavor to digitalise its governance to the Nigerian citizens.

“So, from 2020 to 2026, KOICA will support the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to implement Nigeria’s e-governance Masterplan.”

Woochan noted that no fewer than 1,400 Nigerians were trained in phase one of the project, adding that more Nigerians would be trained over the next 6 years.

 

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere