FG completes paperless transition across ministries

The Federal Government has announced the successful completion of the transition to paperless operations across all federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments as part of ongoing public service reforms aimed at improving governance and service delivery.

According to a statement on Saturday, the announcement was made during the International Civil Service Conference 2026, where government officials, reform experts, and technology stakeholders gathered to discuss digital transformation and the future of governance in Africa.

Speaking at the conference, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack disclosed that all 38 federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments met the December 2025 deadline for full digitalisation and paperless operations.

According to her, the reform is part of broader efforts to modernise the Federal Civil Service through technology-driven systems and innovation.

“We are embracing innovation, resilience, and technology-driven reforms to strengthen governance and service delivery,” she said.

Walson-Jack also revealed that the Federal Government’s AI-powered Service-Wise GPT platform, developed to assist civil servants with service rules and institutional knowledge, has recorded more than 50,000 conversations since its introduction.

“These are not vanity metrics. They are evidence that technology, when it solves real problems, gets adopted,” she stated.

She stressed that Artificial Intelligence should be used to complement human capacity rather than replace human judgement in public administration.

The Head of Service credited the progress in ongoing reforms to the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, noting that the administration had strengthened accountability, performance, and results across the public sector.

She also commended Galaxy Backbone and its technical partner, Crown Interactive, for supporting the government’s digital transformation agenda through the 1Government Cloud initiative.

Speaking during the event, Wumi Oghoetuoma described the initiative as a government-focused digital workspace designed to place civil servants at the centre of public sector transformation.

“The civil servant is also a citizen. She is not just the person behind the desk; she is the person the desk was built to serve,” he said.

Oghoetuoma explained that the platform provides secure digital workplace tools for government institutions, including official email systems, electronic document management, e-signature services, identity management, workflow automation, and video conferencing on sovereign infrastructure.

He added that the initiative aligns with global Digital Public Infrastructure principles while promoting government-owned infrastructure, data sovereignty, and data portability across African public institutions.

Participants at the conference also discussed financing reforms, partnerships for digital transformation, and strategies for building resilient and citizen-focused institutions across Africa.

A major highlight of the conference was the Deal Room initiative, created to enable stakeholders to formalise partnerships and sign Memoranda of Understanding aimed at accelerating governance reforms and digital transformation initiatives across the continent.