Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

The United Nations University on E-governance (UNU-EGOV) has affirmed that Nigeria is on the right track in its digital transformation plan.

The Director of UNU-EGOV, Delfina Soares, made the affirmation at the closing ceremony of the 18th ICEGOV conference in Abuja, yesterday.

The conference was organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), with the theme ‘Shaping the Future of Digital Governance through Cooperation Innovation and Inclusion’.

The UNU focuses on e-governance through research, policy advice, and capacity building to help governments leverage digital technologies for public service delivery, citizen participation, and sustainable development.

Its work includes examining emerging technologies like AI and blockchain, a government fellowship programme for civil servants, and projects to build innovative e-governance labs in different countries.

UNU aims to promote responsible and equitable digital transformation by putting people at the center of governance and focusing on issues like inequality and social inclusion.

Soares said she had been in constant touch with the digital transformation drive in Nigeria and that the government was serious about the plan.

She stated, “Before I came here, I did my work. I tried to understand. By the way, we have been in contact and having some cooperation in Nigeria for a long time. Since 2018, we have delegations from Nigeria participating and attending ICEGOV

“I could understand the priority that the country has been giving to this topic. And now here, in the multiple discussions and as you heard at the closing ceremony, we received a lot of papers from authors from Nigeria and it is very clear, not just for me, I think for all the community now; the developments that the country is doing in this area.”

On what to expect from ICEGOV, she said, “we expect that it continues to be a platform to gather together all the relevant stakeholders so that we can jointly face this challenge. Because we are talking about digital technology and digital transformation, that can bring a lot of benefits and that can have a huge impact on citizens, in the life of a country.”

The Programme Chair for ICEGOV 2025 Conference, Prof. Adegboyega Ojo of the Carleton University, Canada, noted that “government is providing a platform for dialogue regarding how technology can be used to improve the way government works in general.”

“Whether it’s really about the way they work internally or the way they develop their policies or the way they provide services to the public,” he said.

The Special Assistant on Innovation and Research to the Director General of NITDA, Lukman Lamid, said the government hopes to implement the recommendations o he conference.

“We expect that at the end of this conference, some of the recommendations and best practices that have been talked about here are going to be put together to be a framework for us to develop our digital economy in Nigeria,” he said.

Lead Business Analyst on Digital Development Initiatives at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN ), Dr. Robert Ifeonu, who won the research paper category award at the conference, said, “Essentially, it’s presenting a new approach to driving digital transformation in public sector, and the backdrop is a history of failure and unsuccessful digital transformation projects in the public sector, not just in developing countries. It’s a problem that we see even in developed countries as well. Projects that fail, resources are wasted, and it has a cascading effect on citizens’ trust in government.”

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