WorldStage Newsonline– The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Malam Kashifu Inuwa, has emphasised the crucial role of strategic planning and funding in enhancing public sector service delivery.
Inuwa made this remark at the opening of a workshop for ICT, budget, finance, and planning officers of Federal Public Institutions (FPIs) in Abuja.
He stated that the training aligned with the presidential priority areas of reforming the economy for sustained inclusive growth and improving governance for effective service delivery.
The workshop, had as its theme, “Empowering Public Sector ICT Excellence Through Strategic Planning and Effective Funding,” aims to strengthen digital transformation efforts.
Represented by Mr Oladejo Olawunmi, Director of IT Infrastructure Solutions, Inuwa reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to digital transformation through its Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2.0.
“This programme aligns with national priorities and aligns with our strategic pillars such as talent development, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, innovation, and policy-enablement to foster a sustainable digital economy,” he said.
He acknowledged that inadequate collaborations among stakeholders, short-term project planning, poor ICT infrastructure management,software licensing issues and insufficient capacity building had limited digital transformation in the public sector.
The bottlenecks, he said contributed to minimal outcomes in government-led digital initiatives.
“Most project stagnations or failures are attributed to inadequate integration of modern trends such as cloud computing, remote support, and enterprise network services into project planning.”
He stated that NITDA was strengthening its IT projects clearance processes to ensure that digital initiatives were well conceptualised, planned and executed in alignment with intended objectives.
He, however, agreed that there had been significant achievements in some FPIs’ compliance with the processes, which had been recorded at 12 per cent.
Inuwa urged participants to manage public funds prudently and prioritise projects that yielded measurable outcomes.
He admonished participants to take full advantage of the programme designed to strengthen their expertise in strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation and financial management.
NITDA’s Head of External Relations and Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, stated that no fewer than 1,000 personnel would be trained in batches on IT project clearance processes.
According to her, the training will be conducted in 20 batches, with approximately 51 participants per batch, spanning five weeks.
