The details of the meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Andres Garcia, Oracle Global Vice President for North, East and West Africa, Levant and Turkey, have emerged.
The Nigerian leader received Garcia and his team at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, before leaving for the G20 Summit in India.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, the President solicited the use of cutting-edge technology for e-governance, prudent financial management, and growth.
President Tinubu stated that the government can only build the nation’s institutions with accurate data and cutting-edge data management capabilities that are reliable and effective.
Whilst expressing concern about Nigeria’s bloated civil service payroll at the national and sub-national levels, the President said the use of technology will be needed to address the situation.
He said: “Each time they give me the payroll number, I get so frightened. Where am I going to get the capital to develop the infrastructure we desperately require if the payroll of 1% – 2% of the population is consuming all the revenue?
“I think we need a tight technological control that can check and balance all necessary control points of our transaction processes. I’m looking forward to working with Oracle because I have the belief and confidence that you can do it as you have in the past.”
In his remarks, Garcia proposed a comprehensive digital transformation of the work process at the federal level of administration, in order to achieve greater macro-economic visibility, streamline government processes for cost and time savings, and provide the desired skills development opportunities for Nigerians.
“You have shown tremendous practical leadership throughout your career, Mr. President. We have partnered with you and we know how determined you are to achieve all that you set out to achieve. This is why we are offering Nigeria a free national diagnostic of the present situation in the public service with a view to dimensioning across sectors the scale of solution required. We look forward to partnering with you again,” the Oracle VP concluded.