The United Nations University on E-Governance (UNU-EGOV) says it will continue to support International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) for digital transformation in Africa.
Ms Delfina Soares, Director of UNU-EGOV said this at the weekend during the closing ceremony of the 18th edition of the ICEGOV organised by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in Abuja.
The theme of the conference was “Shaping the Future of Digital Governance Through Cooperation, Innovation and Inclusion.”
Soares said over the years ICEGOV had served as a global platform for countries to jointly reflect on digital transformation, policy evolution and governance innovation.
She said Nigeria, participating countries would benefit directly from the strengthened knowledge exchange, peer engagement and international networking that took place among participants.
Soares, who noted that Nigeria has been part of ICEGOV activities since 2018, said the country’s continuous participation reflected the increasing priority it placed on modern digital governance.
“One of the impacts is the strengthened community that was here, there also the volume of information exchanged about latest developments in frameworks, policies and challenges of digital governance.
“This knowledge certainly benefits Nigeria and countries that participated in the conference.
“The UNU-EGOV remains committed to organising and supporting this conference for better digital governance,” she said.
Prof. Adegboyega Ojo, Programme Chair for ICEGOV 2025, said Africa must adopt emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a way that aligned with Africa’s context and governance realities.
“Africa needs to own its digital transformation because the deal will not be handed over to us.
“Africa understands its own problems, so it must adapt ideas discussed here, like AI for governance, in ways compatible with its systems,” he said.
Also speaking, Dr Lukman Lamid, Special Assistant to the NITDA Director-General on Innovation and Research, said the Federal Government was ready to adopt outcomes of the conference into its digital economy policy frameworks.
Lamid said that part of the recommendations included strengthening digital public infrastructure, with emphasis on broadband penetration and connectivity.
“The project to roll out 95,000km of fibre optic cable by 2027 is aimed at ensuring more Nigerians have access to internet.
“This will improve digital economy and diversify the broader economy and that is a project on building digital infrastructure,” he said.
The conference recorded 508 participants, including 369 delegates and 308 paper authors, representing 51 countries.
It had 102 international participants, with 151 paper submissions and seven accepted papers.
Dr Robert Ifeonu, Lead Business Analyst on Digital Development Initiatives at Central Bank of Nigeria, won the research paper category award at the conference.
Ifeonu’s research paper was entitled “Micro-Transformation Framework for Public Sector Innovation: Catalyzing Resilient, Outcome-Driven Digital Governance.”
He added that there was need to transform the framework to actionable policies to build digital trust in the public sector.
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