Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), received the portal on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Speaking at the handover ceremony held at the Continental Hotel Abuja on Thursday, Abdullahi who was represented by Dr Dimie Warowei, the director of Corporate Planning and Strategy, described the event as the culmination of a strategic partnership between Nigeria and the Republic of Korea, supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

The NGEA initiative, which began in late 2022, is a key component of Nigeria’s e-Government Masterplan 2.0. It aims to modernize public sector digital infrastructure through integrated systems and standardized frameworks across government institutions.

Abdullahi noted that over the past two and a half years, Nigerian and Korean experts collaborated to review and upgrade the country’s enterprise architecture framework. The project delivered a revised structure designed to improve interoperability, efficiency, and alignment with national priorities.

As part of the initiative, several reference models, including Technology, Business, and Service models, have been developed to guide implementation across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs). Additional Data and Performance Reference Models are expected to further strengthen the system.

Pilot programmes were conducted in key government institutions, including the National Identity Management Commission, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and NITDA itself. These agencies received capacity-building support and customized digital transformation roadmaps.

The DG also highlighted the deployment of supporting infrastructure by indigenous firm Qorebox Technologies Limited, hosted within facilities of Galaxy Backbone, with a two-year maintenance plan to ensure system stability.

He emphasised that the newly launched NGEA Portal represents more than just a digital platform, describing it as a foundation for a more coordinated and citizen-focused government.

“The successful implementation of enterprise architecture across government will help reduce duplication, improve interoperability, and enhance service delivery,” Abdullahi said.

He expressed appreciation to the Korean government and KOICA for their technical and strategic support, reaffirming NITDA’s commitment to expanding the adoption of the framework nationwide.

In his remarks, Mr Eunsub Kim, the country director of KOICA, described the event as the outcome of a successful partnership between KOICA and NITDA.

He commended NITDA for its pivotal role in driving the initiative and reaffirmed KOICA’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s digital transformation efforts.

Also speaking, Engr Nadungu Gagare, the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, represented by Mr Johnson Bareyei, described the NGEA Portal as a transition from fragmented digital initiatives to a more coordinated national framework.

He noted that the achievement aligns with the ministry’s transformation agenda under the leadership of Dr Bosun Tijani, and expressed appreciation to the Korean government for its technical and financial support, while also commending NITDA for successfully driving the project.

The handover signals the beginning of a new phase, with NITDA set to lead the operational management and long-term sustainability of the platform as Nigeria continues its push toward a more digitally driven public sector.

This milestone marks a significant step forward in Nigeria’s ongoing digital transformation efforts, with the goal of improving Government-to-Citizen (G2C) interactions and enabling easier access to government services.

The Government Service Portal is a unified digital platform designed to enhance the delivery of public services by providing a seamless, secure, and accessible portal where citizens can interact with multiple government agencies.

Through this portal, citizens can access critical services such as NIN Registration, Immigration Services, healthcare services, and more—with little or no need to visit to physical offices.

Galaxy Backbone, a leading digital infrastructure and services provider for the Nigerian public sector, has played a pivotal role in championing e-government and  in designing and deploying the GSP.

Through its partnership with KOICA, Galaxy Backbone has ensured that the platform leverages the latest technologies, prioritizing user experience, accessibility, and cybersecurity.

KOICA has provided technical expertise, capacity-building support, and funding for the development of the portal, underscoring the shared commitment to Nigeria’s e-government strategy.

Key Highlights of the Government Service Portal:

Accelerating Digital Transformation: The GSP supports the Federal Government’s commitment to digitize public services, enabling more efficient governance and ensuring that all Nigerians, regardless of location, can access essential services.

Improving Government-to-Citizen Engagement: By reducing the need for face-to-face interactions and offering real-time service tracking, the portal fosters a more transparent and responsive government, enhancing citizens’ trust in public institutions.

Secure and Accessible Services: The GSP is designed with robust cybersecurity features, ensuring that citizens’ data remains protected.

It is also mobile-friendly and accessible in multiple languages, making it easy for citizens from all parts of Nigeria to interact with government services online.

KOICA’s Role:

KOICA has provided strategic support, leveraging its expertise in e-governance and technology-driven public service delivery.

KOICA’s involvement ensures that the GSP aligns with international best practices and benefits from the lessons learned in similar successful projects globally.

Engagement Workshop with 12 Pilot Agencies:
The engagement workshop, which took place today, brought together senior officials from 12 pilot government agencies, including FMCIDE, NIMC, SMEDAN, NCC, NIPOST, FRSC, NAFDAC, NYSC, NPF, NIS, BPP and NEPC.

The goal of the workshop was to familiarize these agencies with the GSP’s features, capabilities, and integration process, and to ensure seamless service delivery as the portal goes live.

Speaking at the workshop, the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, who represented the Honourable Minister, highlighted the significance of this project and the need deepened collaboration and deeper citizen engagement. ‘The Government Service Portal has the potential to change lives and I believe that through and efficient and effective collaboration we will achieve a lot for our nation’.  Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanyu, Managing Director/CEO of Galaxy Backbone, emphasized the significance of this initiative in transforming how government services are delivered to Nigerians. He noted:

“The Government Service Portal is a testament to Nigeria’s dedication to embracing digitalisation for improved governance. Galaxy Backbone is proud to lead this initiative, working alongside KOICA to make public services more efficient, transparent, and accessible to all. With the engagement of these pilot agencies, we are taking a major step toward a fully digitized public service ecosystem that will benefit every Nigerian citizen.”

From KOICA’s side, the Country Director, Mr. Sunjil SON, expressed the agency’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s journey toward an inclusive digital economy, stating:

“KOICA is delighted to partner with Galaxy Backbone and the Government of Nigeria in delivering a platform that will change how citizens interact with their government. This initiative aligns with our broader mission of promoting sustainable development through technology and innovation.”

Looking Ahead:

According to the statement signed by Mr. Chidi Okpala, head, Media & Corporate Communications at GBB, the successful integration of the 12 pilot agencies is a precursor to a broader rollout of the GSP across all government ministries, departments, and agencies.

This initiative will serve as the backbone of Nigeria’s e-government strategy, reducing delays, improving transparency, and empowering citizens to engage more effectively with their government.

Kashifu Inuwa, the DG of NITDA, made this known at the handing over of deliverables to CEOs of  NITDA, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday which was held at the e-Government Training Centre, Kubwa, Abuja.

The event symbolises the implementation of the first phase of the Nigerian e-Government master plan, which was sponsored by the joint implementer, the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

Inuwa, who was represented by Mr Oladejo Olawumi, director I T Infrastructure Solutions in the agency, said that the aim of the event was to strengthen the progress made so far and properly position the general government enterprise architecture as a cornerstone of building the foundation for digital governance in Nigeria.

The DG said under the Strategic Road map and Action Plan, which was named SRAP 2.0, the pillar of infrastructure in the project was committed to ensure seamless and inclusive access to digital services.

“The enterprise architecture is a disciplined way of organising enterprise resources, which includes business processes, data, information, tech, finance, etc., to provide the capabilities required to consistently achieve outcomes of the organisation’s functions and mandates.

“It specifies the principles, practices, standards, and policies that guide the way capabilities enable the IT to evolve over time and continue to deliver results even under continuous changes in political, administrative, and economic conditions.

“It is therefore in line with this administration’s commitment to ensuring the implementation of sustainable initiatives and programmes that will stimulate and rejuvenate the economy that the Federal Ministry of Communications

“Innovation and digital economy’s strategic plan of driving towards a resilient, inclusive and prosperous digital Nigeria by utilising ICT to drive transparency in government as well as improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of public service delivery in Nigeria,” Inuwa explained.

He also noted that NITDA, in line with its mandate had developed the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture as part of the implementation of the first phase of the Nigerian e-government master plan.

“The framework launched in March 2019 was developed as an overarching document to guide the effective and efficient adoption and implementation of IT projects in government so that expectations and outcomes of IT projects can be achieved in the short and long term.

“The implementation has led to the development of programmes and initiatives which include the clearing of many IT projects, improvement of the national IT clearance policy drive, IT systems anddigital services assessment of 200 federal and public institutions, the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture portal, establishment of digital transformation technical working group DTTWG in 100 federal and public institutions, training of 442 members of the DTTWG and engagement of 10 FPIs under digital transformation performance and readiness,” he added.

He asserted that the Nigerian Government Enterprise Architecture is a critical factor in the implementation of the following e-government related regulatory instruments.

The Director General further explained that the Nigerian e-government interoperability framework was designed to enable interoperability between all the services provided by the government.

Stressing that the Digital Public infrastructure (DPI) as it were is key to the present administration’s drive towards making government services to be integrated among themselves.

He listed the national cloud computing policy and strategy; business process management guidelines, electronic document management system guidelines of FPIs, government digital service framework and digital government transformation performance assessment tool kit, among other core elements of the project.

Mr Songil Son, the Korean International Corporation Agency’s (KOICA ‘s) country Director, stated that ‘the project has four components, and the Enterprise Architecture is one of the components.

“NITDA is coordinating the whole process and so much progress has been made so far by properly positioning the overall government enterprises architecture as a cornerstone of building the foundation for digital governance in Nigeria’.

Earlier, representatives of Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service took turns to express their optimism that the values outlined in the guide would ease the perfection of digital governance and foster inclusiveness, transparency and progress in the country.

They gave assurances that the services would be committed to leveraging the framework of the project as a catalyst for achieving the Nigeria’s strategic aspirations.

Kashifu Inuwa, the Director General of NITDA, who was represented by the Acting Director, Digital Economy, Engr Salisu Kaka said that the EA is one of the components of the second phase of the NeGPM implementation.

The quadruple of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); National Identification Management Commission (NIMC); Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, were approved by the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE), Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) to be used for the pilot implementation of the EA project. 

He stated that the EA Framework is aimed at helping the Federal Government through its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to seamlessly navigate the digital transformation journey and prepare the country for the future of the digital economy.

The pilot implementation process started with a one-week training for the four selected MDAs from Monday 17th to Friday 21st October 2022. Other implementation activities will continue after the training.

Inuwa mentioned that the EA implementation is going to cover all MDAs in the long run.

He said the four MDAs used for the pilot are to be the pace setters and will be used to bench-mark the implementation process for the rest of the MDAs.

Prof Park Byeong, Korean EA expert and Nigerian EA project lead, during a presentation at the training said; “EA defines business and Information Technology (IT) blueprint and architecture in each different view using abstraction.”

He explained that the EA concept was started in 1987 by John Zachman who raised a need to express a conceptual framework for the integration and linkage of information systems and named it Architecture Framework. 

He further explained that the evolution of the EA which was initially Information System Architecture (ISA) in 1987, presented a solution to the increasing complexity of information systems.

In 1992, it became Information Technology Architecture (ITA) which was used as a tool for the systematic management of IT in the 1990s, and then, in 2000, it became EA which was extended to include the whole enterprise as a focus area.

The 5 day training took place at the e-Government Training Centre (eGTC), Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), Kubwa, Abuja