Lawrence Olaoye 
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has assured that Nigeria’s civil service will fully digitalize its operations by December 31, 2025.
She gave the assurance on Wednesday in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists at the World Press Conference to commemorate the 2025 African Public Service Day and the Civil Service Week.
Walson-Jack revealed that no fewer than 11 ministries have already fully digitalized their operations, with others at various stages of transition to paperless systems.
“You know, at the beginning of this year, we realized that our strategy plan ends precisely on December 31. So, we decided to accelerate the implementation of all pillars of reform in that plan. One of the key pillars is digitalization,” she said.
“We’re telling all MDAs to go paperless, and we’re not asking them to do what we haven’t done. I’m happy to inform you that even before I came on board, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had already gone paperless.”
She noted that just last week, she launched the Enterprise Content Management System at the Federal Ministry of Health, making it the 11th ministry to go fully paperless.
Speaking on the ministries yet to complete the transition, Walson-Jack acknowledged challenges such as funding constraints, which are being addressed with support from development partners.
“The race to December 31, 2025, is on. By the grace of God and through our hard work, the civil service will be fully paperless by then,” she said.
She emphasized that digital transformation is not limited to eliminating paper documents but includes automating workflows and operational processes.
“In my first 100 days, we launched several digital platforms aimed at supporting this transformation,” she noted.
Walson-Jack disclosed that partners have begun training 600 civil servants in digital literacy and that the federal civil service has started capacity building in Artificial Intelligence (AI). She also revealed that 31,000 civil servants now use official government emails, a result of efforts from dedicated digital “war rooms.”
Highlighting international collaboration, she spoke about the recent study tour to Singapore involving both federal and state civil service leaders, describing it as a benchmarking exercise that is already yielding positive reforms across state services.
The HCSF also announced that over 5,000 delegates are expected in Abuja for the 2025 African Public Service Day and Civil Service Week, scheduled to hold from Friday, June 20 to Saturday, June 28, 2025. President Bola Tinubu is expected to declare the events open.
She explained that African Public Service Day, adopted at the 1994 Pan-African Conference of Ministers in Tangier, Morocco, is observed annually on June 23 across the continent to promote public service values, professional excellence, and innovation in the public sector.
