The Secretary to the Government of the Federation , Mr. Boss Mustapha, on Monday inaugurated what he described as the upgraded website of his office , http://www.osgf.gov.ng .
Speaking at a brief event in his office in Abuja , Mustapha put the cost of the upgrading , which he said included procurement of laptops , training of officials and consultancy services , at N 64m.
The Federal Government had allocated N 65 m for the project in the 2017 Budget.
“ There was a contract in 2017 . The figure in public domain. It is about N 64 m including procurement of laptops , training , consultancy services.
“ The contract was awarded by the Bureau of Public Procurement in accordance with the Procurement Act, ” Mustapha said when he was asked the cost of the upgrade.
The SGF explained that the desire of his office to operate a functional website that will deliver information and policy thrust of the present administration formed the decision to upgrade the old website which he said was based on old technology , hence limited features and security of content .
He said it was important to make information on government activities readily available to Nigerians and other stakeholders because information drives investment and development worldwide .
He described the revamped e-participation platform as the major achievement of the new website .
Through this platform , Mustapha said members of the public would be free to
request for information from government , submit ideas , and lodge complaints .
Such requests , ideas or complaints , he explained , would elicit timely response from government .
He said arrangements were being concluded to train officials from Ministries , Departments and Agencies who will be handling the different segments of the website.
Mustapha said those who criticise government do not necessarily hate the government .
“ When people criticise government , it is not that they hate government . They want government to do better and for them to see improvement , ” he said .
The Permanent Secretary , General Services , Office of the SGF , Mr. Olusegun Adekunle , said the decision to upgrade the website was taken so that it can serve better .
Adekunle said the upgrade would add value to the dissemination of information of government activities .
He added that each of the six offices in the SGF’ s office will have content managers before they can upload content .
He said there was a plan to train initial 50 officers for the six offices .
