The Arewa Professional Forum (APF) has called on the Federal Government to accelerate the adoption of digital governance and paperless administration across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), saying recent developments surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) highlight the need to strengthen institutional systems rather than focus on assigning blame.

The Arewa Professional Forum (APF) has urged the Federal Government to fast-track the implementation of digital governance and paperless administration across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), saying recent developments surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) should reinforce the need for stronger institutional systems driven by technology.

In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its National President, Comrade Auwal Muhammed, the Forum said the focus should be on consolidating ongoing public service reforms capable of preventing administrative lapses through digital innovation rather than dwelling on assigning blame.

According to the Forum, the issues surrounding the PFIPC should serve as a wake-up call for government institutions to eliminate manual processes that often create opportunities for delays, poor documentation and verification challenges.

The APF commended the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, for driving what it described as one of the most ambitious public sector digital transformation programmes in recent years.

It noted that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has introduced several technology-driven initiatives, including the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) System, GovMail and the 1-GOV Cloud Platform, aimed at modernising government operations and promoting a fully paperless Federal Civil Service.

According to the Forum, these reforms are replacing cumbersome paper-based procedures with secure digital platforms that enhance transparency, accountability, efficient records management, faster decision-making and seamless collaboration among government institutions.

It argued that a fully digitised system for government communication, approvals and records management would significantly reduce administrative lapses by creating verifiable audit trails, strengthening accountability and improving transparency across public institutions.

The Forum maintained that expanding digital transformation across all MDAs would make procedural shortcomings easier to detect, monitor and prevent, while boosting public confidence in government institutions.

“It is precisely because of challenges such as these that the Head of the Civil Service has consistently championed the vision of a technology-driven and paperless Federal Civil Service,” the statement said.

The APF added that the benefits of the reforms are already evident across the country, particularly in Northern Nigeria, where federal institutions have recorded improvements in electronic correspondence, digital service delivery, online examinations, merit-based recruitment processes, payroll integrity, digital performance management and capacity-building programmes.

It stressed that digital governance is essential to improving service delivery in critical sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure and public administration, noting that efficient technology-driven systems are indispensable to effective government coordination.

The Forum argued that no modern government can continue to rely predominantly on manual administrative processes while aspiring to global standards of transparency, efficiency and accountability.

It therefore called on the Federal Government to sustain and expand digital transformation initiatives across all MDAs, insisting that the reforms being implemented by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation should be strengthened rather than overshadowed by isolated administrative issues.

According to the APF, nationwide adoption of digital governance would reinforce institutional integrity, improve inter-agency collaboration, safeguard official records and position Nigeria’s public service as a more transparent, efficient and accountable system capable of meeting the demands of a modern economy.