Anambra govt donates laptops to Budget, Planning, Research HODs in 21 LGAs

By Praise Chinecherem

Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs in Anambra State, Tony-Collins Nwabunwanne has restated Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s commitment in ensuring that Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state are digitalized.

Nwabunwanne stated this on Wednesday during presentation of brand new laptops to Heads of Departments of Budget, Planning, Research, and Statistics (BPRS) across the 21 Local Government Areas of State in continuation of Soludo’s vision of equipping the state workforce with digital tools.

The presentation was made after the two-day training of the BPRS departmental heads on how to effectively leverage technology for accurate and reliable data sourcing and processing measures.

The training was organized by Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, in collaboration with the State ICT Agency, at the JAAC Conference Room, Government House, Awka, the State Capital.

Nwabunwanne appreciated the governor for all his policies aimed at taking state civil service to the next level, urging government officials to maximize the equipment for optimal productivity.

He assured you continued training to ensure the workers were kept abreast on innovations in their respective fields of endeavour.

He said, “This is the first time the departmental heads are empowered with digital work tools. The Ministry is working to see how to support staff of the LGAs to acquire laptops for their self development under an easy payment pattern.

“The governor has also approved that all the LGAs be furnished with furniture for the workers and had requested all the LGAs to send in their demands.

“Today, we are witnessing this training and presentation of laptops and you all will agree that the governor is genuinely committed to transforming the Local Government System.

“All we are asking is that you ensure that the knowledge garnered is deployed to increase the revenue of the state. Also make sure you are exact with respect to data and figures and learn from your colleagues as you work together.”

Earlier, Managing Director, Anambra ICT Agency, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, reiterated Soludo’s vision of enthroning regime that placed premium on technology, which he said several agencies of government had keyed into.

He said, “The target of Mr Governor with this is to maximize data collection based on the recommendation of the revenue mobilization and fiscal commission.

“This training will be done physically and we will follow it up with online session to enable the officers understand the software used for this data collection and use them appropriately.

“We want you to be able to understand how to, as you are uploading this to the RMAC Abuja, you also upload to the state server because what we have observed is that there are no available data to work with.

“We also observed that there are no much digital work tools and this has limited the productivity of workers and this is a major strength of the private sector.

“We realized that if we don’t do anything about this, it will be a big problem for the state. So, we are introducing the PC policy to ensure that there are work tools to enable them work effectively. That was why the government is presenting the laptops to you.”

Congratulating the beneficiaries on the new knowledge and work tools, Agbata urged them to ensure that the impact of the work tools was reflected in course of their assignments.

He assured the Agency’s follow-up on them to ensure the digitization demands were properly internalized.

“It is one Anambra, one agenda and the ICT Agency is poised to drive the policy of ‘Everything Technology and Technology Everywhere’ to fruition,” he added.

Also speaking, Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, LGSC, Mr Vin Ezeaka disclosed plans to launch the project “Own Your Laptop” for all LGA workers to ensure enough tools to work with at the LGA system.

Head of Budget Planning, Research and Statistics, BPRS department, Onitsha North, Okafor Chijioke and his Nnewi North counterpart, Uche Ogbonna appreciated Soludo for both the training and laptops, expressing optimism of unprecedented improvement in productivity.

Three months ago, the BPRS departmental heads were at Abuja for a training on how to generate data for the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Abuja.

At the training, they were encouraged to get digital work tools, as onward upload of data from their various LGAs, will be done digitally.