Ondo Deploys AI System to Digitise Civil Service, Pension Administration
The Ondo State Government has introduced an Artificial Intelligence-powered digital platform to automate civil service personnel administration, retirement and pension processes, in a move aimed at improving efficiency and speeding up government decision-making.
Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, who launched the system, known as “Ondo AI,” on Wednesday at the Cocoa Conference Hall, Governor’s Office, Akure, said the initiative was part of his administration’s broader effort to replace analogue processes with a technology-driven public service.
The governor said government could no longer rely on outdated systems to run a 21st-century public service, stressing that access to accurate information and data was critical to effective administration.
“We cannot expect the 21st-century public service to operate an analogue system indefinitely, with systems designed principally for another era. This is the technological era. We cannot remain and be working with an analogue system,” Aiyedatiwa said.
He said the Digital Human Resource Management System would provide government with real-time information needed for planning and decision-making, while improving the management of personnel and reducing bureaucratic delays.
According to him, the quality of decisions taken by government is closely linked to the quality of information available to decision-makers.
“Leadership is about decision-making. And every leader takes decisions based on the information at hand. If the information is accurate, the decision will be near accurate. And if the information is inaccurate, the decision will be false,” he said.
Aiyedatiwa, however, warned that the success of the platform would depend on the accuracy and integrity of the information entered into it.
He charged officials responsible for managing the system to ensure that personnel records were accurate, describing the integrity of information uploaded onto the platform as “sacrosanct.”
The governor said the digitisation programme was intended to simplify government processes, reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, strengthen institutional memory and improve service delivery.
“For us, digitisation is not technology for its own sake. It is a means of simplifying processes, reducing unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks, improving institutional memory and bringing government closer to the people,” he said.
He also urged public servants to embrace the new system, noting that technological reforms could come with initial adjustments and challenges.
“There may be adjustments and challenges along the way, but reform is never achieved by standing still. We have to keep moving,” he said.
System to automate retirement, pension processes
The Head of Service, Chief Segun Odusanya, described the launch as a major step towards modernising the state’s public service.
Odusanya said personnel administration had for years relied substantially on manual records and traditional procedures, which he noted were increasingly inadequate for the complexity of modern government operations.
He said the new digital platform would strengthen personnel records, support workforce planning, facilitate faster decision-making and reduce delays associated with manual processes.
The platform, he added, would provide government with a comprehensive overview of its workforce, including officers’ deployment, competencies, career progression and areas requiring further training.
Odusanya urged public servants to ensure the accuracy, confidentiality and security of personnel information uploaded onto the system.
Demonstrating the platform, the Managing Director of SmartApps IT Limited, Godwin Odoma, said the system would automate civil service administration, payroll management, retirement processing and pension migration.
Odoma said the platform contains comprehensive records of civil servants, including photographs, appointment details, promotion letters, academic qualifications, complaints and other relevant documents, which authorised officials can access digitally.
He said the system would also notify government when an officer approaches retirement, while workers could use the self-service application to determine the number of days remaining before their retirement.
“With the self-service application, you don’t have any reason to say you don’t know when you are going to retire,” Odoma said.
According to him, civil servants would also be able to access their monthly payslips through the platform, while the Office of the Head of Service could generate information on workers due for retirement in a particular month.
Odoma said the automation was also designed to reduce delays in pension payments by facilitating the transition of workers from active service to pension without unnecessary gaps.
He added that the system had positioned the state to meet the required Disbursement Linked Indicators under the World Bank’s HOPE-GO programme, where automation and transparency are key requirements.
He urged civil servants to scan the relevant code or download OndoPay from the Google Play Store, after which they can log in with their Civil Service (CS) number and access the application.
The event was attended by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Taiwo Fasoranti; Chief of Staff, Prince Segun Omojuwa; members of the State Executive Council; labour leaders; Permanent Secretaries and other accounting officers.
