Federal Civil Service Goes Fully Paperless December 31

The federal government through the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) has officially transitioned to the ‘1Gov Cloud’ platform.

The transition marked a significant milestone in the federal government’s drive to digitise its operations and deliver on its promise of a paperless service by the end of 2025.

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who led the “Go-Live” event on Monday, declared the December 31, 2025, deadline for all ministries and extra-ministerial departments to abandon paper-based workflows was mandatory.

“We did say that come December 31, 2025, the ministries and extra-ministerial departments would go paperless. And so for us today, the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation migrating to our own indigenous ‘1Gov Cloud’ is very remarkable,” she said.

Walson-Jack expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for his commitment to seeing the service digitalized. “What better way than to be digitalized? So I’m very excited. I’m very happy,” she said.

While addressing potential misconceptions, the Head of Service clarified that the new digital system does not translate to civil servants working from home.

“No, that does not mean you can stay in your house and do work. It only means your work is going to be more efficient, you will be more productive, and the work will be more transparent.

“It means that now our workflows will be seamless, and that indeed, we would not spend so much time doing work that could be done in a smarter way,” she said.

Detailing the strategic shift from the previous ‘Laserfish’ system to the indigenous ‘1Gov Cloud’ Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS), Walson-Jack outlined four key reasons, with national sovereignty at the forefront.

“The first reason is the national sovereignty of digital infrastructure. Moving to 1Gov Cloud, therefore, aligns with a national shift to sovereign digitalisation and directly protects Nigeria’s data, platforms and digital future,” she said.

She further emphasised that the new platform, delivered through the government-owned Galaxy Backbone Limited, ensures national interoperability, cost efficiency, and faster adoption across all ministries.

Walson-Jack assured that the system is inclusive and designed for every civil servant from Grade Level 3 upwards, that through integrated tools like ‘GovMail’ for email, ‘GovDrive’ for file access, and ‘GovConnect’ for virtual meetings, officers will manage workflows digitally.

She further announced that the ECMS will integrate with the Performance Management System (PMS) by 2026, fundamentally changing accountability.

“Every task becomes auditable. Every approval becomes traceable. Every output becomes measurable. This is how we finally shift from performance by perception to performance by evidence,” she said.

In order to ensure swift nationwide adoption, the Head of Service revealed that a committee of Permanent Secretaries would be constituted with a two-week deadline to negotiate a unified licensing structure with Galaxy Backbone.

“The deadline for all ministries and extra-ministerial departments to go paperless remains 31 December 2025. This is not aspirational, this is authorisational,” she said.

Walson-Jack framed the initiative as a necessity for national competitiveness, saying, “We are not digitalizing for theatrics. We are digitalizing because we are building a nation that must compete and win in the world that we live in.”