Customer: Ministry of Interior, C&B Department
Website: www.ecitibiz.interior.gov.ng
Customer Size: 250+ employees
Country or Region: Nigeria
Government: Homeland Security
The Ministry of Interior’s responsibilities span a variety of sectors within the internal administration of the country. The Ministry is charged with crucial internal issues ranging from Immigration Control, Prison Administration, Civil Defense, Fire Service and Nigeria Police Force and oversight of compliance with certain commercial and civic regulations. The Ministry of Interior (FMI) is at a strategic platform in the on-going Federal Government planned program of e-government strategy and focus. The ministry recognizes the role of Information Technology deployment for Real-Time functionality in the management of Government business, exchange of information and Services with citizens, local and international private sector and other arms of government.
The C&B Department of the Ministry of Interior is responsible for processing some services of the Ministry of Interior like; Grant of Business Permit and Approvals, Issue of secured Marriage Certificates, Grant of Citizenship to deserving Individuals and Licensing of Places of Worship. In this study we will center on the C&B Department of the Ministry of Interior.
The C&B Department is faced with increasing demands of citizens and clients for enhanced efficiency and optimal service delivery. However, the Department’s current operations are not responsive enough to meet the dynamics of the ever changing global standards and best practices for service delivery. Services are still being done manually making it difficult to capture all the information generated by the Department, thereby making information search and Retrieval difficult. There is also a current lack of Secured Approval and Marriage Certificates which makes it difficult to track the authenticity of such certificates when presented for viewing. The inability to track the amount of revenue generated by the government from the 4 services rendered by the C&B Department, including an inadequate number of Marriage Registries all over the country, making it difficult to render the services to the large Nigerian population.
In 2012, The Ministry of Interior in collaboration with Anchor Dataware Solutions, launched the eCitibiz project to electronically capture and pivot all aspects of the operations and work flow of the Citizenship and Business (C&B) Department. It best describes the integration and automation of the department’s core functions, services and process for streamlined operations; E-Payments, E-Applications, E-Registrations, ICT Infrastructures etc. This also involved the establishment of Federal Marriage Registries in all the states in the country.
An automated application (eCitibiz) was developed to cater to all the problems faced by the C&B Department of The Ministry of Interior. The eCitibiz application was developed to drive and facilitate the entire process of the Ministry of Interior’s Business Permit, Naturalization, Marriage, Place of Worship Licensing and Expatriate Quota Management System. It solves the issues that may be identified as challenges to the department, almost all of the issues that tend to slow down its pace of functionality and threaten the department’s performance integrity.
The eCitiBiz system was developed to include the following four modules that would help tackle the outlined challenges:
Efficiency: Forms are filled and submitted online at anytime and anywhere, which users and clients say they find more convenient and this bridges the digital divide between the department and the transacting public.
Elimination of Fake Documents: The eCitibiz project eliminates and prevents incidences of fake documentation, forged receipts and fake approvals, as well as other related sharp practices, from within and outside the department.
Executive Decision Support: The eCitibiz system provides real-time information that has helped the management in making and enforcing key decisions as well as respond to potential challenges on time.
Increased Productivity: With the built up internal capacity, the department has become more efficient and productive, rendering high level services to citizens and clients.
Better Monitoring & Control (Reaching Government’s best goals): The system enables better monitoring and control of quota facilities granted by the Ministry, which prevents abuse.
Cost Savings: Costs borne by the Ministry with regards to printings for the department has drastically reduced, also, huge costs borne by the clients on travels and other logistics.
Security of Information and Records: Information and records within the system is encrypted for security purposes and confidentiality.
Standardization and Promptness: With streamlined operating system and processes, bureaucracies and deliberate mishandlings are cut off, which has made work more effective.
Shared Services & Collaborations: The system provides the department access to shared services platform in terms of management information and inter-ministerial, departmental and agency interaction and collaborations.
Transparent, Accountable & Improved Revenue Earning Capacity: The online multi-currency payment system allows for transparent and self-accountable revenue management for the ministry as well as increased revenue earning capacity through the portal access income.
Some of the benefits of eCitibiz solution to the Ministry of Interior include: