Nigeria unveils digital govt platform for unified access to public services

Nigeria has soft-launched a platform dubbed Government Service Portal (GSP) to ensure unified access to a wide range of services from a single sign-on.

The platform was developed thanks to collaboration between the Nigerian government and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) under the Building Foundations Towards Digital Governance in Nigeria initiative.

This will make it possible for users to access services from different websites via a single point. It is part of Nigeria’s e-Government Master Plan 2.0 and its national digital public infrastructure (DPI) drive.

A representative of the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Johnson Bareyi, said the digital government move aims to make the delivery of public services in Nigeria more trusted and citizen-centric. He is quoted as saying that “rather than navigating multiple agencies and repeatedly submitting the same information, citizens will increasingly enjoy a simpler and more seamless experience.”

Galaxy Backbone (GBB), a government digital infrastructure enterprise, is the technology partner of the project which is the fruit of a digital cooperation deal concluded with KOICA worth $13 million. A Korean official said in 2021 that the country was willing to share its expertise with Nigeria and support its digital government and overall digital transformation efforts.

Through a pilot phase which has been on since last year, the new system will integrate some government institutions to evaluate the functioning of the platform before a nationwide rollout. Officials will test how it simplifies fragmented service delivery, reduces bureaucracy, and enhances transparency. A key feature of the system is its integration with the Nigerian Digital Exchange to allow government agency share data among them.

GBB CEO Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju noted that the system will serve as a unified gateway which is far more than just a website. “By bringing government services together under one trusted digital gateway, we are simplifying access, improving visibility, promoting consistency and creating a more seamless experience for everyone who interacts with government,” he said as quoted by VON.

In April, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) announced that it had taken over control of another digital government platform, labelled Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) Portal, under the KOICA-supported initiative.

The development in Nigeria is indicative of a major fundamental shift by nations from siloed, agency-specific digital services to a consolidated and citizen-centric digital government ecosystem. This is seen with systems such as the UK’s Gov.uk, Singapore’s Singpass, and Estonia‘s digital government system.

Article Topics

data exchange platform  |  digital government  |  government services  |  National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)  |  National Identity Number (NIN)  |  Nigeria  |  single sign-on