By Okon Okon
Nigeria’s Federal Civil Service has achieved a historic transition to a fully paperless and digital operation across all 38 Federal Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments ahead of the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF) , Dr Didi Walson-Jack, made this known at the opening of the International Civil Service Conference (ICSC) 2026 on Wednesday in Abuja.
The conference is with theme: “Reforms, Resilience and Results,” attracted participants from 16 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, Ghana among others.
According to her, over 5,000 participants attended physically, while thousands joined the conference virtually.
She said the conference was convened to deepen global collaboration and strengthen public sector reforms across participating countries.
“Eleven months ago, we stood on this ground and made a bold commitment to rejuvenate, innovate and accelerate the transformation of Nigeria’s Civil Service.
“Today, we return not to repeat ourselves, but to demonstrate progress, proof and renewed determination to go further,” she said.
Walson-Jack said the Federal Government’s Service Wise GPT platform, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tool developed to help civil servants navigate service rules and institutional processes, had recorded over 50,000 engagements.
She said government was also advancing discussions on responsible AI adoption in governance.
“Our position is clear: AI must expand human capacity, not replace human judgment. It must serve citizens, especially the most vulnerable,” she said.
Walson-Jack attributed the achievements recorded in the civil service reform agenda to the support and leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
She said the architecture of the 2026 conference was designed around eight thematic stages: Aspire, Innovate, Activate, Accelerate, Accomplish, Rejuvenate, Transform and Impact.
According to her, the stages reflect the journey of reform from vision to implementation and sustainable results.
She added that three roundtable sessions would focus on the future of work in the public sector, partnerships and collaboration, and financing reforms amid fiscal constraints.
Walson-Jack described the “Deal Room” introduced at the conference as one of its most consequential innovations.
She explained that the initiative was designed to facilitate the signing of Memoranda of Understanding among stakeholders, with legal officers at hand to support negotiations and documentation.
“We want this conference to end with signatures, not just speeches,” she said.
In his goodwill message, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, commended Nigeria’s ongoing civil service reforms and growing international partnerships.
Montgomery said countries across the world were grappling with global uncertainties, including conflicts, technological disruptions and shifting geopolitical realities.
He noted that the United Kingdom was strengthening its partnership with Nigeria in response to the country’s reform efforts under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to him, the partnership has already yielded over 1.5 billion dollars in new investments in agriculture and infrastructure.
“We live in an uncertain world. Multilateral cooperation is more difficult sometimes, and we all need to build new partnerships and alliances.
“All public servants, including in my own country, are struggling with these uncertainties, with these challenges.
“In such challenging times, the role of all of you, the civil service of the Federation, the public servants from other countries, our role is ever much more important and we are delighted to learn from Nigeria ” he said.
Also speaking, the Head of the Civil Service of Ghana, Evans Aggrey-Darkoh, described the conference as a critical platform for idea-sharing and strengthening governance systems across Africa.
Aggrey-Darkoh praised Nigeria’s progress in digital transformation and paperless governance, saying such reforms improve service delivery and reduce corruption.
“The moment you remove a lot of the human interface, you improve quality and deal with issues of corruption,” he said.
He disclosed that Ghana had also digitalised several public services, including passport issuance, driver licensing and port operations, while introducing a chip-embedded passport and a national identity management system.
According to him, digitalisation had significantly increased revenue generation in some Ghanaian institutions.
“A number of areas have been digitalised and revenues in some institutions have more than quadrupled,” he said.
Aggrey-Darkoh, however, cautioned that increased digitalisation also exposed countries to cyber threats, stressing the need for stronger cybersecurity measures.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Sadiya Hamza
