Group Urges Federal Government to Fast-Track Automation of Civil Service

The Arewa Professional Forum has called on the Federal Government to accelerate the automation of the Federal Civil Service, urging the adoption of digital governance and a fully paperless administrative system across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The group said recent developments surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) highlight the urgent need to strengthen government institutions through technology-driven reforms.

In a statement issued by its National President, Auwal Muhammed, the forum said government should focus on consolidating ongoing public service reforms rather than assigning blame over isolated administrative controversies. According to the group, eliminating manual processes would reduce delays, improve documentation, strengthen verification systems and minimise administrative lapses.

The forum commended the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, led by Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, for driving digital transformation through initiatives such as the Enterprise Content Management System, GovMail and the 1-GOV Cloud Platform. It noted that these reforms are gradually replacing paper-based procedures with secure digital platforms that promote transparency, accountability, efficient record management and faster decision-making.

According to the group, a fully digitised government communication and records management system would create verifiable audit trails, strengthen institutional accountability and improve transparency across public institutions. It added that expanding digital reforms to all MDAs would make procedural shortcomings easier to detect and prevent while boosting public confidence in government institutions.

The forum further argued that digital governance is essential to improving service delivery in critical sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure and public administration. It urged the Federal Government to sustain and expand technology-driven reforms, insisting that a modern public service cannot rely predominantly on manual administrative processes while striving for global standards of efficiency, transparency and accountability.