Director General of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Abdulateef Shittu on Wednesday unveiled plans for the launch of two digital readiness tools designed to assess and enhance the digital transformation journey of Nigeria’s States.
Dr. Shittu disclosed this in Abuja via a statement, explaining that the “tools were developed after consultations with government institutions at the Federal and State level, financial institutions, private technology and digital service providers, and citizens to ensure comprehensiveness,
representation, and a reflection of the country’s needs.”
To this end, the NGF Director General beckoned on all stakeholders, including State Governments, policymakers, and Development Partners to explore how the DPI and IRA tools can be used to support digital transformation across States.
According to him, the “Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Readiness Index is a comprehensive tool that evaluates the readiness and maturity of States in adopting a DPI-approach to digital transformation and government administration.
“The index assesses the foundational digital capabilities of each State and provides a detailed analysis of their strengths, gaps, and areas for improvement, taking into account the digital maturity level of each State.
“Built around three key pillars – Enabling Environment, Building Blocks, and Delivery of Public Services – the DPI Readiness Index offers a holistic approach to understanding the digital landscape of each State and how it intersects with public service delivery for citizens.
“The Intelligent Revenue Authority (IRA) Index is a service-specific tool designed to assess the integration of Digital Public Infrastructure with revenue administration.
“The tool achieves this by evaluating core functionalities, operational efficiency, and structural characteristics of revenue administration and the integration of key DPIs, such as digital IDs, data exchange mechanisms, and payment systems to connect business logic and organisational silos.
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“The IRA index aims to modernise revenue administration and fiscal management through a DPI-centred approach.”
As part of its design thinking process, NGF is holding a validation workshop on Monday 27th January 2025 which will bring together technical experts from the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory to review their feedback on the readiness tools.
The workshop will discuss use cases, preliminary feedback trends and recommendations on treatment measures.
The primary Institutions invited for the event are the Ministry/Department/Agency responsible for driving the digital transformation agenda of the States and the State Internal Revenue Services.
These representatives will be formally constituted as the reference group for DPI implementation at the State-level.
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