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With massive rollout of ICT infrastructures across the state and capacity trainings including skill-up sessions for civil servants as part of the compliance measures for Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde is unfolding his agenda for digital economy in Oyo state as he turns two years in office this week.
Oyo leads in statewide NDPR implementation
Oyo has taken the lead in adhering to NDPR, Nigeria’s principal legislation for data protection effective since 2019. Early this year, the state started executing NDPR compliance measures for eight of its ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the first phase of a statewide implementation of data protection protocols and training of civil servants to begin the state’s journey into the national digital economy agenda.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of DSPL Limited, one of the Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCos) licensed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Tunde Balogun,, Oyo is leading other 36 states including the FCT as a pacesetter with the statewide adoption of data protection across all MDAs and compliance with the NDPR,
Balogun, whose company is helping to implement the NDPR measures in the state, commended Governor Makinde for embracing the vision to set the state on course with best global data protection practice in order to position Oyo to better engage local and international development collaborations.
“Data protection compliance is increasingly becoming the standard requirements for any engagement with global development bodies including the World Bank or any international funding or support groups. NITDA has recognised this has therefore benchmarked the NDPR on global standards that include the GDPR applicable in the European Union (EU). It is encouraging to see Oyo living to its name as a pacesetter to get the agenda unfolding across its MDAs,” said Balogun whose company performed similar implementation in in Plateau state, central Nigeria.
Critical projects for statewide digitization, civil servants training
While highlighting some of the critical projects that have set the state on the right path to digitisation, Special Assistant to the State Governor on ICT and E-governance, Mr. Adebayo Akande, said the digitisation of many government services with digital skills training for civil servants in the last two years has remained a strong focus of Governor Makinde.
He said the administration kick-started with the mass training of civil servants in digital skills and use of the digital collaborative and productivity tools. In addition, he said the government also rolled out official email addresses with @oyostate.gov.ng extension for all civil servants and ensuring its usage is mandatory.
“In the last two years, we have also rolled out data warehousing and data infrastructure in Oyo state where all government data and documentation will be domiciled and accessed in real-time“. He added that the State has also commenced the digitisation of land procurement, survey, and Certificate of Ownership (CofO) processes.
According to Akande, other digital projects executed by the administration in the last two years includes fibre optic cable rollout across the entire secretariat for high-speed internet & intranet connectivity in the secretariat; large scale procurement of 1,939 computer, printers, and UPSes for civil servants; and digitisation of recruitment process with the Oyo State job portal which has put a stop to nepotism and brought about an improved user experience. The portal is said to have processed over 300,000 applications so far.
He added that the state government has also commenced the process of digitising all paper files for complete business process automation while implementing an Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) and E-procurement platform for efficient contracting transparency and online procurement. The special assistant further disclosed that the state has also carried out biometric registration and verification of all government workers, pensioners, and ad-hoc staff.
Upskilling teachers to enhance education
The state had also organised Oracle Academy training on java fundamentals and database management to all its Computer Science teachers who will, in turn, train their students, as programming languages is introduced to secondary schools’ curriculum in the State (java fundamentals and database management).
Corroborating this, the Country Programmes Manager, Oracle Academy Sub-Sahara Africa, Sefunmi Fadahunsi, said that the oyo state government partook of the partnership agreement Oracle signed with the Federal Ministry of Education to advance Computer Science education in Nigeria and “we are glad at the quick adoption from Oyo state. Teacher training has been delivered to pilot teachers who will multiply and transfer this knowledge to students and also adopt the knowledge and curriculum in their teaching. This is an exemplary progress.”
“The future-oriented and visionary government of Engr. Seyi Makinde deemed it fit to setup a fibre optic network all over the Oyo state secretariat to enhance staff productivity and efficiency,” said Chief Executive Officer of Presto Integrated Solutions, Mr. Chris Okafor while commenting the landmark achievements of the state in the area of ICTs.
Speeding up governance with Fibre to the Office network
“The government deployed Fibre to the office (FTTO) network which provides an excellent platform for ultra-high speed access technologies and is designed to move high data, video and voice traffic within and outside the Oyo state government secretariat. Every building in the secretariat is wired to the fibre backhaul and users connect to the network wirelessly without any hindrances or encumbrances,” he said.
Similarly, in recognition of the giant strides of the State Government in ICT development in the last two years, a socio-political and non-governmental group, ‘Young Professionals for Good Governance,’ had recently lauded Governor Seyi Makinde, describing him as a role model in Nigeria in general and the Southwest in particular. “Superlative application of E-government in the daily activities of his administration is being imitated by other governors in the country,” the group noted.
