By About 56 percent of all IT projects in the civil service failed to deliver on what were promised, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr Kashifu Inuwa, has said.
He attributed the failure to the resolve by the MDAs to go for latest technology, and failure to design before building the technology and lack of consideration for the business value proposition to be delivered with the projects.
Inuwa made the observation during a visit to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Office of the Auditor General of the Federation and Bureau of Public Procurement as part of its oversight function of scrutinizing IT projects of the Federal Public Institutions.
He disclosed that most Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) build IT projects based on the proposal submitted to them by the contractors who would design the projects, implement them and operate them which give no room for accountability.
While stressing the need for NITDA to work together with MDAs, noted that the Agency is building a digitised government service adding that “We need to the same way IT system works to deliver these services.”
He said: “For us to achieve this, we need to be more intentional in the way we design, and implement. And if we continue to design and implement in silos, they will never work together.”
Inuwa who was at the three MDAs to present the NITDA’s Reviewed IT Project Clearance Guidance Document, said that there is need to be more focused and intentional in the implementation of IT projects if the country wants to maintain its leading position in Africa.
In his remark, Auditor General of the Federation, Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira, commended NITAD for its thoughtfulness for bringing the guideline forward for its review and inputs.
He assured that once the policy becomes operational, the Office of the Auditor General will conduct a performance audit to assess whether it is effectively contributing to the betterment of the country.
Similarly, the Accountant General, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, commended NITDA’s efforts to standardise IT project implementation and expressed readiness to support the integration of the clearance guidelines into financial processes.
Also, Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr Adebowale Adedokun canvassed for capacity building for the government’s staff in IT cadre so they would not be outsmarted by contractors.
Both NITDA and BPP agreed to constitute a working committee that would work out modalities for the realisation of the entire intended plan and sign a Memorandum of Understanding on its implementation.
