NCC collaborates with Bureau of Public Service on Blockchain Technology

As Nigeria is set to adopt Blockchain Technology, the Nigeria Communications Commission is collaborating with the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) preparatory to the rolling out a roadmap for implementation.

The Commission disclosed at a workshop it organised on Wednesday in Abuja.

Speaking at the workshop, the Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform, Dr. Dasuki Arabi, said the BPSR is also planning to train 500,000 public servants ahead of the adoption of the new Blockchain which he said is a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems.

The new technology is coming at the backdrop of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s bid to stop the use of cryptocurrency in the official banking channel.

The CBN had in February 2021 banned banks from trading cryptocurrency and recently fined four banks over N800m for cryptocurrency-related transactions.

The DG said the technology (blockchain) is “real and has come to stay”, adding that the government needs to innovate.

“Public service is the biggest beneficiary of blockchain. When you look at the responsibilities that are saddled with the public service, you will see that there is a lot to benefit from blockchain technology,” the DG said.

He admitted that the public service is underperforming due to a lack of efficiency in operations.

He added, “We cannot meet our target, we cannot change the life of a citizen if we are not efficient. There is a National Government e-Masterplan that has been approved by the Federal Executive Council which has set the strategy for digitization for this massive movement from paper government and public service to paperless by the year 2030. The framework has been set up; the implementation has already started.

“From next year, assessments will be done electronically of everybody that is on IPPIS and working for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“As at the time this paper was being crafted and its strategy, little attention was paid to the blockchain. But as it is a legal document, we can always review it. Blockchain is going to be very important in implementing the e-government master plan.

“We will come up with a robust road map for the implementation and adoption of blockchain technology in the public service in Nigeria. What we are trying to do is to sensitize Nigerians and public servants and come up with the road map for the implementation of blockchain technology.

“Adopting this technology will give us the privilege to improve on transparency and accountability, then working together between MDAs and most importantly it will break bureaucracy.”

The BPSR boss revealed that at the end of the conference, members will come up with the road map for the adoption of this technology (blockchain).

“Along the line, the concerned agencies will come up with that, but certainly you cannot open the system like that, adopt a new technology without regulations- it is virtually impossible,” he said.

To achieve the target, the DG revealed that the BPSR is partnering with Digital Bridge and other institutions to train 500,000 public servants in IT and blockchain technology.

According to him, the decision was imperative as blockchain will help the government in decision making, secure data, and reduce the cost of governance.

He said, “We are trying to work with Digital Bridge and other institutions to get us to understand the language of digitization to get us to speak it and understand digitization and we call it digital literacy. Five hundred thousand public servants are going to be trained under this programme.

“We must reduce the cost of governance and IT, blockchain, in particular, is here to reduce the cost of governance and in the cause of doing that, some of us may be casualties, but when you lose on one side, you are going to gain on the other side and as patriotic citizens, we should put the country first beyond ourselves.

“So, if I lose my job and there will be an improvement in the quality of public service in Nigeria, I will lose it on my own today.”

According to him, aside from the benefits of efficiency, blockchain will improve the security of government data in the case of cyberwar like the case of Russia and Ukraine.

“Cyber security becomes very important for us to safeguard the data that we are generating, to safeguard our system, information and possibly to use it as a weapon of war as we move on.

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“We are not able to get the nation’s budget to support most of our works and our activities. Using technology, we will become more transparent and more open and the international community will be willing to come and invest in Nigeria through Public-Private Partnership because the record and data are available so that they can always check what we are doing,” he said.

He lamented that while 40 percent of the national budget of Rwanda is funded by development partners, Nigeria has witnessed apathy from development partners.

Barrister Amaka Ukwueze of the University of Nigeria during her presentation emphasized the legal framework necessary for the adoption of blockchain.

She said, “Government needs to promote legal certainty for blockchains application. We are talking about blockchain today, but if you don’t develop the market confidence, if you don’t develop the users’ confidence and make sure that people can trust this technology, people will still develop cold feet to trust this technology.

“Create a flexible regulatory environment that enables experimentation. There is a need to make room in developing new regulations, developing the laws and to make room for future innovations that may come up from the technology.”

She said government laws must not stiffen blockchain technology, adding that “laws should encourage it (blockchain).”