Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, on Friday, flagged off the Umuahia Dedicated Internet Access/Wide Area Network Project, saying the initiative signals the end of civil service inefficiency and the beginning of a technology-driven era in the state’s governance.
Speaking during the flag off at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Secretariat Complex in Umuahia, the governor said the project would revolutionize the way government institutions operate by enhancing efficiency, transparency, and accountability across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“This afternoon, we have gathered to mark the beginning of a new era where technology shall be deployed as the functional vehicle to drive the root and branch transformation of the civil service in the state,” Otti said.
He warned that the days of bureaucratic bottlenecks and manual processes were over, noting that only civil servants who embrace technology and demonstrate digital competence would remain competitive under the new system.
“You either upskill and grow or become uncompetitive and stagnant. The old era of operational inefficiency is gone for good,” the governor declared.
The project, according to him, includes the installation of fibre-optic infrastructure, deployment of high-speed internet, and provision of digital tools to enable real-time communication, document management, and inter-agency collaboration.
Otti said the broader goal is to position Abia State for global relevance by building a digitally empowered civil service that can drive development and respond promptly to service demands from citizens and development partners.
He also disclosed plans to extend the digital infrastructure beyond the public sector, with an agreement already in place with an ICT firm to lay fibre-optic cables across business hubs in the state, eventually reaching rural communities.
“Our vision is to connect the larger Abia economy to the digital space to drive enterprise growth, create jobs, and open up new opportunities for entrepreneurs,” he said.
The governor maintained that while technology will drive governance, human capital will remain at the core of his administration’s development strategy.
“We shall never surrender our roles and agencies to machines. The human core shall remain strong,” he said.
THE WHISTLER reports that government officials including Head of Service Abia State, Benson Ojiekere, Commissioner for Information, Prince Kanu, ICT experts, and civil servants attended the flag-off ceremony, hailing it as a transformative move toward modern, efficient governance in Abia State.
