Paperless Operation: 54,000 Civil Servants Join NITDA’s Digital Literacy Surge

Nigeria’s federal bureaucracy is racing against a December 2025 deadline to end paper-based operations.

Leading this charge, Kashifu Inuwa, the director general of NITDA, and Didi Esther Walson-Jack, the head of the Civil Service of the Federation, have accelerated the “Digital Literacy for All” (DL4ALL) initiative to bridge the public sector’s technical talent gap.

The stakes are high: Nigeria is targeting a 95% digital literacy rate by 2030, with the public service serving as the primary testbed for this national transformation.

The Conversion Funnel: From Enrollment to Completion

Data journalism requires looking at the “drop-off” in training programs. While the DL4ALL program has seen massive interest, the focus is now shifting toward course completion, the bridge between “attendance” and “actual capacity.”

• Total Enrolled: 54,377 Civil Servants (79% of the target cohort).
• Completion Rate: ~40% (Over 21,700 officers fully certified).
• The Incentive: To combat “completion fatigue,” NITDA has introduced hardware incentives, including laptops for top performers, to ensure skills move from the screen to the desk.

Solving the “Email Crisis”

One of the most telling revelations from the DG was the initial institutional hurdle: access to official email accounts. For years, the lack of unified government digital identities stalled progress.

Through a coordinated push with the Office of the Head of Service, these “infrastructure silos” are being dismantled, allowing for a more secure and interoperable governance framework.

The December 2025 “Hard Cut”

Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack reaffirmed that the transition to paperless operations by December 2025 is non-negotiable. This move is expected to:

• Reduce Administrative Overhead: Slashing the billions spent annually on stationery and physical archiving.
• Improve Tracking: Moving from physical files to digital logs for better transparency.
• Increase Productivity: Reducing the time for internal “memos” to move across MDAs from days to seconds.

Data Sidebar: Nigeria’s Public Sector Digital Roadmap