FG saves N24.7bn monthly through IT

Isah Pantami, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says the federal government saves N24.7 billion monthly, through deployment of information technology.

Mr Pantami made the disclosure at the “March 2019 Lunch Time Reform’’ seminar organised by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms on Thursday in Abuja.

“Under E-Governance today, so many leakages in government institutions have been blocked by IT (Information Technology) and that has integrated even the revenue of our country

“With the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and BVN, the Federal Government of Nigeria has been saving a minimum of N24.7billion monthly, just because of the implementation of this IT software.

“In addition, look at the confidence of our citizens today it has improved significantly in Nigeria, because many people today have trust in online banking.’’

The director general said IT had further enabled Nigerians to obtain International Passports, book appointment for biometrics online.

According to him, the Corporate Affairs Commission had automated its system, to enable companies get registered online without going to the organisation’s office.

Furthermore, he said IT had enabled Nigerians to run online courses without physically attending institutions.

Mr Pantami urged all public institutions to effectively utilise Information Technology for exchange of knowledge, boost creativity and inclusion.

He said low internet connectivity, lack of digital skills, low integration of business technology with IT as well as non-digitalisation of some public institutions accounted for huge loss of government revenue.

He warned that institutions which remained non-proficient in IT deployment were likely to be expired by 2020.

He further cautioned that public institution defaulters of IT clearance from NITDA would be punished through the agency’s laws and with directives from the Presidency.

The DG, therefore, urged all public institutions to strive to create IT action plans, retain good IT staff while attracting more world class IT experts especially the indigent ones in foreign countries.

(NAN)