The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has declared that the vision of a paperless civil service is no longer a dream but a reality in the present day.
Walson-Jack made this known at the Paperless Civil Service Gala and Awards events in Abuja, where top civil servants, ministers, and development partners gathered to celebrate digital champions.
She traced the journey of the transformation, to 2017 under Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita and accelerated by her predecessor, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She revealed that when she assumed office in August 2024, only three ministries had fully digitised.
According to her “By the singular act of going live on the Enterprise Content Management System, every Ministry represented here has achieved full compliance on the Ministerial Deliverable for digitalisation of work processes.”
She praised the awardees for not waiting for perfect conditions, acknowledging the early frustrations with digital systems like failed logins and network issues by sharing a personal anecdote, due to constant system challenges in her early days of keying into the digital space.
She emphasized that the reform aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the “Nigeria First” policy, prioritizing homegrown technology and expertise challenging ministries yet to complete their transition to FasTrack the processes.
“If you go live, we will celebrate you, and yes, we can still have another party in your honour because this reform journey believes in second chances, third chances, and well-timed go-lives.”
She expressed confidence that this marks the moment the Federal Civil Service truly embraced a paperless future.
Earlier in a remark, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume reaffirmed the commitment of the present administration to support all initiatives that enhance coordination, efficiency, and reform across government.
He further buttressed that, the transition to paperless work processes is not merely a technological upgrade; but a fundamental shift in culture, mindset, and service delivery, representing efficiency over bureaucracy, transparency over opacity, and accountability over discretion.
Also, in a Goodwill message, the Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone, Professor Ibrahim Adeyanju, strategic said partnership to enable secure, scalable and efficient digital infrastructure remains central to the mandate of the agency,
He reaffirmed the commitment to continue working tirelessly to ensure that MDAs achieve full digitalisation and unlock the true benefits of a paperless government.
The high point of the event was the official launch of the Civil Service digital portal.
