Nigeria’s federal civil service now digitalised — Walson-Jack

Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoCSF), says the Federal Civil Service has fully transitioned to a paperless system, marking a major milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform.

Walson-Jack said that with the close of work on Tuesday, all Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments (MEMDs) complied with presidential and administrative directives to operate entirely without paper.

Speaking with newsmen on achievement of the initiative on Wednesday, she described the development as a bold shift from a legacy paper-based bureaucracy to a modern, accountable and digitally enabled public service.

“Simply put, all ministries in the Federal Civil Service are now paperless.”

The HOS explained that the achievement was the outcome of years of deliberate reforms by successive administrations.

She recalled that digitalisation, which was first prioritised under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP) 2017–2020, launched during the tenure of Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, with the introduction of an Enterprise Content Management System (ECM).

According to her, the reform was further strengthened under Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan through the FCSSIP 2021–2025, which expanded the ECM concept into a broader digitalisation of content services aimed at improving information flow, decision-making and service delivery.

Walson-Jack said that when she assumed office in August 2024, only three MEMDs had partially adopted paperless operations.

According to her, this has now expanded to 38 MEMDs, comprising 33 ministries and five extra-ministerial departments, including the State House, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the HCSF, the Federal Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

She also highlighted a major breakthrough in official communication through the expansion of government email accounts.

“In August 2024, no fewer than 20,000 official email addresses existed. Today, over 100,000 GovMail accounts have been created, ensuring that all civil servants now use secure and auditable government email identities,” she said.

The HoCSF added that the GovMail platform had strengthened government control over official correspondence, improved responsiveness across MDAs and saved the Federal Government billions of naira by eliminating fragmented external email subscriptions.

She said the paperless achievement was part of the declaration of 2025 as the “Year of Accomplishment” under the FCSSIP25 reform agenda, themed “Final Sprint – Delivering Results.”

Looking ahead, Walson-Jack said the office of the HCSF would extend implementation to all departments and agencies, while focusing on post-implementation optimisation, compliance monitoring, cybersecurity enhancement and further digitisation of workflows.

She disclosed that, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a Service-wide Training-of-Trainers programme would be launched in January 2026 to train 500 officers who would, in turn, train others across MEMDs on the effective use of digital tools.

The HoCSF also said engagements were ongoing with partners to provide enabling hardware, improve internet connectivity and develop a sustainable pricing model to keep digital platforms affordable and scalable.

As part of efforts to end paper-based bureaucracy, she announced that the 38 federal ministries and extra-ministerial departments would no longer accept paper submissions through physical registries.

“All correspondence must now be sent to official registry email addresses, available on the office of the HCSF website. Citizens can also track their correspondence through the Federal Civil Service Paperless portal,” she said.

She explained that citizens and organisations could now communicate with government through scanned letters sent via email, a move she said would improve audit trails, reduce lost files and speed up service delivery.

Walson-Jack expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for his leadership and commitment to the reform, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume, for ensuring whole-of-government alignment.

She also thanked ministers, permanent secretaries, directors, ICT and registry teams, digitalisation champions and partners such as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Galaxy Backbone Limited for their roles in achieving the milestone.

The HOS commended the media for supporting the reform process through consistent reporting and public engagement.

She said the paperless transition aligned with Nigeria’s national development priorities and international best practices, reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to a modern, transparent and performance-driven civil service.