E-PPAN To Host Nigeria’s e-Government Summit

E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) has concluded plans to host Nigeria’s premier edition of the e-Government Summit, themed ‘E-Government: Key To Sustainable Development’.

The international conference scheduled to take place in Abuja will hold on the 7th and 8th of July 2015 this year.

It will address issues such as access, efficiency, transparency, cooperation and sustainable development in the area of e-government.

The Committee of E-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH), First Bank Nigeria Plc and SecureID Nigeria Limited which are members of the E-PPAN Governing Board, will work with the E-PPAN’s secretariat, as planning committee, for the event.

Speaking in a statement, Mrs Onajite Regha, executive secretary and chief executive officer, E-PPAN, said the objective of the summit is to create a platform for developing outstanding models and formulate winning strategies, which will enhance government administrative productivity, efficiency and transparency.

This, she said, will be centred on improving efficiency in government service delivery, and moving away from a ‘silo approach’ to greater collaboration between the private and public sector for sustainable development and economic growth.

“Other objective includes exploring how government can manage the process of innovation in the context of public finance and how technology can improve the process of governance itself.

According to Regha, “The 2015 e-government summit will provide an exciting opportunity for public sector to learn from and network with private sector experts as we identify common challenges and share useful solutions. As part of our strategy, we will be collaborating with major government agencies and state governments.”

She explained that the summit formerly called the “E-Payment for government summit” was borne out of the desire to be a driver of a new generation of e-services in public sector, providing a platform where decision makers and top government officials meet with the best and brightest of the e-payment industry on a single platform. This has been successfully achieved in 3 consecutive conferences.

She maintained that the e-government summit will proffer strategies and solutions for identified issues which will propel new steps towards the changing needs and challenges of the public sector in terms of achieving excellence in service delivery, infrastructure and attaining both organizational and national transformation. 

“It will also provide an exciting platform for industry experts, key government representatives, and professionals from various MDAs at the three tiers of government to discuss the latest issues and trends related to e-government,” she added.

Also speaking, Ms Ntia Sylvia, business and strategy development manager, E-PPAN, noted that today, governments are looking for powerful tools to reinvent themselves.

“They are being encouraged to transform from the traditional bureaucratic paradigm, which emphasizes standardization, departmentalization, and operational cost-efficiency, to the “e-Government” paradigm, which emphasizes coordinated network building, external collaboration and citizen oriented service.

“This growing interest in e-Government raises the question of how governments can efficiently and effectively improve their services to its citizens. E-Government becomes especially important given its potential to reduce costs and improve service compared with alternative traditional modes,” she stated.

Sylvia also stressed that the e-government summit will highlight ways that government agencies can achieve economies in the use of information technology through collaboration with the private sector and between the various levels of government through shared services arrangements.

“It will bring together the best and the brightest in public service and information technology. These diverse stakeholders from across the country, including representatives from government, business and education, will commit to sharing technology solutions for operating in today’s fiscal environment,” she added.