Nigerian authorities are leveraging digital technology to enhance public service quality, with a goal of digitizing 75% of those services by 2027.

The Nigerian government plans to streamline citizen access to public digital services with a newly unveiled digital public infrastructure framework. The framework, designed to support citizens throughout their lives, will create a platform ensuring interoperability across all public services.

"[The framework] will also ensure that technology applications in government are designed and operated without silos, while recognizing the responsibilities and mandates of various ministries, departments, and agencies of government across all tiers of government in Nigeria," said Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, March 4. He added that this integrated government approach will leverage private sector capabilities to develop services for the public.

This initiative is expected to accelerate Nigeria's digital transformation. According to the World Bank, digital public infrastructure (DPI), encompassing digital identity, digital payments, and data sharing, serves as an intermediary between physical infrastructure and sectoral applications. The World Bank believes countries with robust DPI can sustain public services, commerce, hospitals, schools, and other activities through online channels.

The framework's development aligns with the government's goal to digitize 75% of public services by 2027. Meanwhile, the United Nations ranked Nigeria 144th out of 193 countries in the 2024 e-Government Development Index (EGDI), with a score of 0.4815 out of 1. While Nigeria's score exceeds the West African average of 0.3957 and the African average of 0.4247, it remains below the global average. In the online services category, Nigeria scored 0.5372.

However, the Nigerian government has not yet specified a timeline for implementing the DPI framework. Its successful implementation will depend significantly on the country's existing digital infrastructure, including internet connectivity, devices, servers, data centers, cloud services, and routers. In the EGDI's "telecommunications infrastructure" component, Nigeria scored 0.4836 out of 1.

By Isaac K. Kassouwi,

Editing by Sèna D. B. de Sodji