Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, on Monday inaugurated what he described as the upgraded website of his office, www.osgf.gov.ng.Speaking at a brief event in his office in Abuja, Mustapha put the cost of the upgrading, which he said included procurement of laptops, training of officials and consultancy services, at N64mThe Federal Government had allocated N65m for the project in the 2017 Budget.“There was a contract in 2017. The figure in public domain. It is about N64m including procurement of laptops, training, consultancy services.“The contract was awarded by the Bureau of Public Procurement in accordance with the Procurement Act,” Mustapha said when he was asked the cost of the upgrade.The SGF explained that the desire of his office to operate a functional website that will deliver information and policy thrust of the present administration formed the decision to upgrade the old website which he said was based on old technology, hence limited features and security of content.He said it was important to make information on government activities readily available to Nigerians and other stakeholders because information drives investment and development worldwide.He described the revamped e-participation platform as the major achievement of the new website.Through this platform, Mustapha said members of the public would be free to
request for information from government, submit ideas, and lodge complaints.Such requests, ideas or complaints, he explained, would elicit timely response from government.
He said arrangements were being concluded to train officials from Ministries, Departments and Agencies who will be handling the different segments of the website.Mustapha said those who criticise government do not necessarily hate the government.“When people criticise government , it is not that they hate government. They want government to do better and for them to see improvement,” he said.The Permanent Secretary, General Services, Office of the SGF, Mr. Olusegun Adekunle, said the decision to upgrade the website was taken so that it can serve better.Adekunle said the upgrade would add value to the dissemination of information of government activities.He added that each of the six offices in the SGF’s office will have content managers before they can upload content.He said there was a plan to train initial 50 officers for the six offices.
