The Borno state Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has promised to domesticate the Federal government’s digital innovation programmes to enhance efficiency and reposition civil service operations in the state.
Governor Zulum made the promise while responding to the request by the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, on Wednesday, during a courtesy visit at the Government House, Maiduguri.
He remarked that he has followed with keen interest the digital revolution and the new standard set in the civil service under her watch, stressing the need for continued professional development of civil servants, which for a very long period of time has not been effective.
“You enumerated a number of innovative programmes, especially on digitization of the civil service, you talk about Service-Wise GPT and online compendium of federal government circulars and federal civil service academy for training of staff, and service welfare newsletters. I want to assure you that most of these items that you mentioned shall be domesticated at the state level, so that we can have effective vertical and horizontal coordination,” he announced.
The governor urged the Head of Service to uplift the standard of some renowned institutions under the federal civil service, especially particularly the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) and other institutions meant for training to harness their potentials, adding the state is willing to send some of its staff for training.
He said the state government has been supportive to the staff and institutions of the federal government domiciled in the state capital, Maiduguri.
“We have built houses and allocated them to heads of federal civil service in Borno. I will send the allocation letters to your office so that the federal government will owned the houses not the occupants,” he stated
Earlier, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack commended governor Zulum for implementing the N70,000 minimum wage and the public sector health insurance scheme.
“I’m privileged to see firsthand your development stride, especially in infrastructure in education and other sectors, these interventions speak volumes. They reflect our shared commitments to our healthier, stronger and more productive work force, and a healthier citizenry. They are investments, not just infrastructure but in people,” Walson-Jack stated.
“Your Excellency, I most commend. The phase and precision with your administration continues to uplift the civil service from enrolling the Borno State civil servant in the public sector health insurance scheme to streamlining pension documentation and implementing the N70,000 minimum wage,” she remarked.
“You have shown that good governance is not just about policy but about people. These reforms are bold, timely and in perfect alignment with president Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“I’m particularly encouraged by your investment in capacity building for civil servants, structure training, reform initiative and a clear emphasis on performance, reflecting the reforms momentum we are driving at the federal level under the federal civil service implementation plan 2021 to 2025” she added.
Mrs Didi Walson-Jack said the federal government has introduced digital innovations designed to ensure more efficiency, transparency and user friendly in the public service.
“You excellency, Service-wise GTP is becoming quite popular in Nigeria, and I would love that Borno State adopt it and use it for its own productivity. The second digital tool is govmail. This a secured platform, which enables us generate official email for all public servants,”
“As of now, we have created over 34,000 official emails from December last year to date, and with the platform we just keep up creating them and this is the foundation of digitization,” She concluded.
She commended the governor for the restoration of Federal Training Centre in Maiduguri after years of displacement due to Boko Haram insurgency.
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