NeGSt ready to deliver – Agunloye

The National eGovernemnt Strategies (NeGSt) Limited has given indication of its readiness to commence implementation.

This is coming as the government agency in charge of ICT diffusion within the government of the federation has successfully tested the eHealth, telemedicine and eSchool solutions recently.

Executive Vice Chairman, NeGSt, Dr. Olu Agunloye. He gave this indication at the end of NeGSt board meeting recently in Abuja, which was presided over by the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof. Cleopas Angaye.

He noted that NeGSt as a Special Purpose Vehicle specifically established to handle the eGovernment project on behalf of NITDA, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, is keen on taking off the ground its mandate.

It would recalled that NITDA entrusted NeGSt on eGovernment related functions with the top on its agenda being to see to the implementation in alliance partners, including Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution providers, financial institutions and other private sector investors.

Five key players – presidency, ministry, NITDA, NeGSt and alliance partners, own the NeGSt.
Dr. Agunloye who was a former Minister of Power noted that since May 4, 2004 when the Board of Directors (BoD) of NeGST was inaugurated, said the company has systematically moved from designs, roadmaps to preliminary implementation of the eGovernment project which includes the creation and launch of www.eNigeria.com.ng, a citizen-centred portal which provides a one-stop shop and window for Nigerian citizens and visitors to interact with other political and economic components such as government institutions and private services providers.

He also pointed out that part of immediate challenges before the organisation include the issue of building its own database.

Stressing that the tour of 26 Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) across all the three tiers of government nationwide.

“This is because a tour of a total of 26 Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs spanning Federal and State Governments over 18 months starting from October 2004 has brought even more problems to the fore,” he disclosed.

In addition, he said these problems include lack of reliable data and sub-standard databases system where there were attempts to store data owing to non-compliance with any standards.
“Governments operations are generally disjointed with Low level of computerisation.
But the problem is being addressed,” he assured.

He listed three solutions as main part of deliverables the NeGSt visualized to accomplish before the end of this year, such as telemedicine, eSchool and eHealth.

The telemedicine solution, he said, has already been tested in a pilot scheme at Nyanya Hospital in the suburb of Abuja, at Maitama District Hospital, Abuja with doctors at Zanklli Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja participating as eDoctors.

The telemedicine is capable of telediagnosis based on live-measurement of pulse rate, body temperature, ECG and heart beats, even as this solution is by now being incorporated into the United Nations (UN) Millennium Village project at Ikaram, Ondo State.

For the eSchool solution, the EVC said, it has been pre-tested in a school in Wuse II also in Abuja and the data of all primary and secondary schools in Ondo State were being put in final database form for implementation of eSchool solutions throughout all public schools in the State among others.