- 38 MDAs go digital
Nigeria’s Federal Civil Service has officially completed its transition to a fully paperless system, a historic milestone in public sector reform.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, announced on Wednesday that all 38 Federal Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments (MEMDs) became paperless at the close of business on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, in line with presidential and administrative directives.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, Walson-Jack described the achievement as a major step toward a modern, accountable, and digitally enabled civil service.
She noted that the reform builds on a multi-year digitalisation journey that began in 2017 under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP), which introduced the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system.
The initiative was expanded under FCSSIP 2021–2025, focusing on digital workflows, decision tracking, and service delivery.
When she assumed office in August 2024, only three MEMDs had partial paperless operations.
That number has now risen to 38, including 33 ministries and five key extra-ministerial departments, such as the State House, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service, the Federal Civil Service Commission, and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
A significant part of the reform is the expansion of official government email accounts.
Walson-Jack revealed that fewer than 20,000 email addresses existed for civil servants in August 2024.
Today, over 100,000 GovMail accounts have been issued, enabling secure, auditable communication across the service and saving billions of Naira annually.
The HoS also announced that all MEMDs will no longer accept paper submissions through physical registries. Citizens can now submit scanned documents via email and track their correspondence using the newly launched Federal Civil Service Paperless Portal.
“This milestone ensures faster response times, better transparency, and a more reliable audit trail for government correspondenc. This reform aligns with Nigeria’s national development priorities and global best practices,” she said.
Walson-Jack commended President Bola Tinubu for his leadership and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, for ensuring whole-of-government alignment. She also recognised ministers, permanent secretaries, civil servants, and key partners, including the National Information Technology Development Agency and Galaxy Backbone Limited, for their roles in achieving the December 31 deadline.
She expressed confidence that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service will sustain the reform through ongoing training, post-implementation optimisation, compliance monitoring, and cybersecurity enhancement, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).