BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE

 The technology will improve transparency and accountability, contends Sonny Aragba-Akpore

Even though blockchain technology has not been fully adopted and defined by the government to address the crisis-ridden public service in Nigeria, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr. Dasuki Arabi thinks it is the elixir.

Arabi spoke last week at a public gathering in Abuja with high optimism that blockchain is the answer to an effective and result-oriented public service.

 Blockchain is effective and has proof of efficiency. And can be used to address bureaucratic nightmares in government as access to government public information can be done seamlessly, was the claim of some participants at the event. “Blockchain creates anonymity for users and we think this will be the answer to the complaints against the public service,” others reasoned.

In this connection, a blockchain roadmap is on the way Arabi said.

This will be different from the private blockchain which may give access to all data to some users while restricting others. Private blockchains are more suitable for an individual business.

“Blockchains are difficult to hack because every member has a copy of transactions, but they are not completely impenetrable. Hackers need to gain access to multiple individual members in order to create fraudulent transactions and have them accepted,” Dr.Abdulkareem Oloyede of the University of Ilorin explained at the forum.

The Blockchain idea grew out of the e-government project which has been on the drawing board for some time now and as part of efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the nation’s e-government master plan, for which the government claims to have trained 1376 civil servants drawn from 48 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government between November 2020 and December 2021 to manage the blockchain technology in their various offices.

 Director-General, National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, made this known recently as he gave updates on the activities of the e-Government Training Centre (e-GTC) in Abuja.

Civil servants are key drivers in the implementation of the master plan in Nigeria, and there is a need to train the government’s workforce for a smooth transition to e-governance. Underscoring the need to switch to e-government implementation, Kashifu maintained that digital technologies have brought about unprecedented opportunities to drive efficiencies, enable automation and change how society interacts and engages in all facets of life. 

 Government desires a vibrant digital economy, and there is a dire need to build the capacity of civil servants that will drive and provide services to citizens and implement the e-government master plan.

President Muhammadu Buhari, while unveiling the Digital Economy National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) on November 28, 2019, said the centre’s sole mandate is to provide the capacity-building component of the e-government master plan implementation for civil servants across the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

There is already a 10-man governing committee to oversee the affairs of the e-government training center. The membership of the committee comprises staff from the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Galaxy Backbone Ltd (GBB), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN).

  Apart from listing benefits of the training carried out by the e-GTC to the civil servants and recognizing the opportunities e-government can bring and identifying and prioritizing where technology can be best applied to drive efficiencies, enable change and improve service delivery for citizens; understanding and analysing where to apply technologies appropriately to enable a digital transformation that serves the department and citizens and developing and implementing a ‘channel shift’ strategy to encourage citizens to take up and move to the most efficient e-enabled services, no significant progress has been recorded  since 2019. And this should be a great concern to a government that wishes to achieve success in public service turnaround.

Government documents on e-government state that in order to ensure coordination and implementation of the National e-Government Master Plan; develop and drive strategies that will encourage and improve the adoption of the use of Information Technology in government service delivery; coordinate the government’s adoption of IT tools in service delivery; and drive the development of e-government capacity among MDAs; collaborate with MDAs in developing tailor-made plans and strategies for e-Government in Nigeria; regulate and license vendors that intend to do business or collaborate with MDAs in the delivery of IT products and services and ensure the implementation of Standards for Government websites and handle matters relating to the.gov.ng domain; monitor and ensure compliance with all NITDA regulatory documents, National IT policies and directives; and develop and regulate outsourcing in the IT sector as well as license all IT Outsourcing, the policy is only at paperwork level as there is nothing to hold on to so far.

It claims to support the development of government e-services for responsive, efficient, effective, and equitable delivery of public service to all people in strategic sectors of the economy and facilitate the development, implementation, compliance, and enforcement of critical e-Gov/IT regulatory instruments such as policies, standards, guidelines, frameworks, and regulations; and facilitate and promote the integration of critical National IT infrastructure and services for e-government development.

The project was established in 2017 primarily to facilitate digital transformation in the public sector. Arabi further stated that blockchain comes to play as new data come into a fresh block. Once the block is filled with data, it is chained onto the previous block, which makes the data chained together in chronological order.

“All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled. Every page of the book is identified by a unique page number called a “hash,” and the first entry on each page is the “hash” of the previous page. That first entry is the “chain” that links the pages or “blocks” of transactions together.”

Oloyede distinguished between public and private blockchain, saying: “a public blockchain is public, and members are anonymous. Anyone can join the network, process transactions, and validate blocks, provided they have the substantial computer resources required.

 “A robust road map for the implementation and adoption of blockchain technology in the public service in Nigeria is being put in place and what we are trying to do is to sensitize Nigerians and public servants and come up with the road map for the implementation of blockchain technology. Adopting this technology will give us the privilege to improve on transparency and accountability, and most importantly it will break bureaucracy.” Arabi said. Oloyode added: “Blockchain technology can be used to reduce costs, speed up transactions, and improve data security for financial institutions, health care providers, businesses, and more. That’s good news for consumers and investors.”

Aragba-Akpore is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board