The Coalition of Ijaw Youth (CIY) in the Niger Delta has urged Nigerians to support the ongoing digital transformation of the Federal Civil Service, warning against allowing recent developments surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) to distract from the government’s public sector reform agenda.
In a statement in Abuja, the coalition’s National President, Comrade Bedford Berefa Benjamin, said the digital transformation programme, spearheaded by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, was laying the foundation for a more transparent, efficient and accountable public service.
It said the deployment of the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) System, GovMail, the 1-GOV Cloud Platform and other digital solutions had accelerated the Federal Civil Service’s transition to a paperless system, improving service delivery and reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
‘The transformation being championed by the Head of the Civil Service is redefining public administration by ensuring official records are digitally preserved, approvals are traceable, and accountability is strengthened,’ the statement said.
The group said the reforms had replaced cumbersome manual procedures with secure digital platforms for document management, preservation of institutional memory, transparency and faster decision-making.
According to the coalition, expanding digital governance across government institutions would also reduce administrative errors, strengthen internal controls, improve audit trails and enhance compliance with Public Service Rules.
It urged Nigerians to view the current reform efforts from the broader perspective of institutional transformation, arguing that technology-driven systems would provide stronger safeguards against procedural lapses associated with manual administration.
The coalition also commended initiatives aimed at strengthening merit-based career progression, capacity development, payroll integrity and knowledge management, describing them as critical to building a modern, efficient and responsive Civil Service.
It said institutional reform was a continuous process that should not be undermined by premature conclusions while administrative processes were still ongoing.
‘The ongoing digital transformation of the Federal Civil Service is one of the most ambitious governance reforms in Nigeria today. It deserves sustained support, consolidation and full implementation across government,’ the statement added.
The coalition called on the Federal Government to accelerate the nationwide rollout of digital governance initiatives, saying an integrated and paperless public service would promote transparency, improve efficiency, strengthen accountability and restore public confidence in government institutions.
It reaffirmed its support for reforms aimed at promoting institutional excellence, technology-driven governance and a Federal Civil Service capable of delivering efficient, transparent and citizen-centred services.