Head of Service Partners Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation on Digitalisation

Dike Onwuamaeze

The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) is collaborating with the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation (AIF) to digitalise the operational processes of the OHCSF with the implementation of an Enterprise Content Management Solution (ECMS).

A joint statement issued by the OHCSF and the AIG explained that the collaboration was formalised yesterday with the signing of an agreement between the OHCSF and the AIF in the presence of the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at ongoing 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.

Also present at the signing ceremony were the Executive Vice Chair of the AIF, Mrs. Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede and several federal permanent secretaries.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, signed for of the OHCSF while the Chairman of the AIF, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, signed on behalf of the foundation.

The statement noted that the ECMS solution would reposition the federal civil service for better performance and improved quality of service and also, “create efficiency and effectiveness in the OHCSF and ensure the integrity of processes and their outcomes.”

Yemi-Esan added: “We are committed to improving public service delivery and efficiency to ensure that the people of Nigeria have a seamless experience of federal services.

“The digitalisation of our work processes will enable us to be more effective and I commend the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation for partnering with us to achieve this.

‘It is a true testament to the role that public-private sector collaboration can play in national development and I hope that this partnership will inspire other entities in the public and private sectors to collaborate to build a better Nigeria.”

Speaking in the same vein, Aig-Imoukhuede, said: “Our mission at the AIF is to drive improved public service delivery and we are committed to supporting the efforts of the public sector to increase its effectiveness so that it can deliver on its mandate to the Nigerian people.

“As we approach the final stage of the digitalisation project, I am confident that this will mark the beginning of a new era of increased efficiency in the Federal Civil Service.”

It explained that the OHCSF began to forge a partnership with the AIF in 2017, when it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), which is a subsidiary of the AIF.

This, it explained, led to the engagement of the Mckinsey & Co by the AIG to develop the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2017-2020 (FCSSIP20), “and since that time the AIF and its subsidiary entities have been working with the OHCSF, supporting the implementation of some of the key priority areas outlined in FCSSIP20.

“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for the civil service to digitalise, and the AIF has been working with the OHCSF, providing necessary consulting support, resources and funding for the digitalisation project.”

It further stated that the digitalisation project was being implemented in stages with the first being the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which have since been completed by the OHCSF and “are currently undergoing adoption by all the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“The second stage was the Organisational Readiness Assessment, which assessed the OHCSF’s state of readiness to adopt the ECMS and measure future outcomes of the project implementation.

“Additionally, the OHCSF is preparing for ISO 9001-2015 (Quality Management System) certification, which will provide direction for establishing an effective and responsive compliance management system within the OHCSF, enhancing organisational readiness for the ECMS.

“A Joint Evaluation Panel set up by the AIF and the OHCSF identified a suitable ECMS vendor and the project is now at the final stages of implementation.”