By Dele Ogbodo
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday asserted that government saves N20 billion monthly through implementation
of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and Bank Verification Number (BVN) platforms from ghost workers on its pay roll.
Apart from helping to reduce waste in governance,
the President also asserted that federal government also rakes into its coffer N4.7 billion monthly from over 20,000 accounts it consolidated.
This, he said is also made possible through the implementation of the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) since assumption of office in 2015.
Buhari, made the disclosure at the meeting of top government and private sector Information and Communications Technology (ICT) stakeholders at the 2017 eNigeria conference in Abuja.
He said: “We have so far consolidated over 20,000 accounts, resulting into about N4.7 billion monthly savings.
“In addition the TSA policy has facilitated transparency, accountability and ease of transactions and payments between government and businesses as well as government and citizens.”
The President also acknowledged that over 80 percent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hardware purchases are imported through local distributors of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) by MDAs and other government establishments.
This according to him makes it difficult for the country to benefit from the dividends of continuous procurement and consumption of ICT infrastructure and therefore limiting its value retention within the country.
He said: “My presence here today is a demonstration of our commitment and strong belief in using ICT as a major driver of our developmental governance and economic reform plans aimed at bringing about the true change we promised our people.
“Currently, almost all sectors of our economy leverage on ICT to increase efficiency, productivity and performance.
“The sector has recorded huge investments and contributes over 10 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and we are making conscious efforts to see that this contribution continues to grow in the next few years.”
According to him, there is need for deliberate efforts, both from government as well as the private sector to see to that Nigeria is made export ICT hub in Africa.
“I urge you to come up with viable recommendations on how we can make the country an export hub for ICT hardware in Africa.
“We have done a lot to transform our government especially in the areas of strategy, policies and digital infrastructure investments.”
President Buhari said his administration has recently issued an executive order mandating all ministries, departments and agencies to give preference to locally manufactured goods and services in their procurement of information technology services.
Such measures according to him, are part of the deliberate efforts at encouraging local manufacture of ICT infrastructure, creating job opportunities, providing investment opportunities as well as strengthening our currency.
He said: “We commend NITDA’s efforts on fostering the patronage of indigenous IT products and services through continuous engagement with indigenous OEMs, relevant stakeholders and other laudable initiatives.
“ICT plays a pivotal role with agencies of government such as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) which have leaned on ICT in improving public service delivery in an efficient and transparent manner.
“So far, 31 reforms have been completed by the Council and these reforms are already making noticeable impact on our economic diversification efforts.”