Last updated: November 2026 · Reading time: about 10 minutes
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| The seminar is the fourth layer. The NGEA framework was delivered in 2024, the masterplans were written, and over 1,500 officials were trained. The November session explains the model behind all three. |
Register for the session
Tuesday, 10 November 2026 · 2PM · Civil servants
Register now →Official registration link: b.link/DevsinGov-Nov2026
What this guide covers
What the November session is
The details are straightforward and the Ministry has published them clearly.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Date | Tuesday, 10 November 2026 |
| Time | 2PM |
| Theme | "Building Partnership between Nigeria and Korea" |
| Partners | KOICA, with the Ministry's agencies |
| Audience | Civil servants across federal MDAs |
| Registration | b.link/DevsinGov-Nov2026 |
| Focus areas | Korea's national informatics journey; building AI capability in Nigeria's public service; sustainable ICT cooperation |
The framing is worth noticing. It is not a product launch or a policy announcement. It is a capacity-building session, and the subject is Korea's experience rather than Nigeria's achievements. That is a deliberate choice: the Ministry has been running these sessions monthly since at least early 2026, each one bringing in outside expertise to explain how a system works before civil servants are asked to operate it.
The four-year chain behind one seminar
The partnership is not new. KOICA's support to Nigeria's digital governance dates back to at least 2013, and the Nasarawa State Commissioner for Science and Technology noted at the NGEA handover that KOICA has sustained its support since then.
The NGEA project itself began in mid-2022. Over the following years, NITDA coordinated engagements between South Korean technical teams and teams from four pilot MDAs — NITDA, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigeria Customs Service and the National Identity Management Commission — leading to the development of the NGEA framework and its supporting infrastructure.
The framework was launched in 2024, and the portal was formally handed over to NITDA in March 2026. KOICA's Country Director described the handover as the culmination of over four years of collaboration.
The DevsInGovernment programme runs alongside this. It was an innovation of Minister Bosun Tijani, delivered in partnership with KOICA and supported by Galaxy Backbone. By January 2026, the programme had trained more than 1,000 state-level civil servants across Nasarawa, Cross River, Lagos, Enugu and Jigawa, plus an additional 500 federal civil servants from MDAs.
The NGEA portal and what it changes
The NGEA is the most concrete thing this partnership has produced, and it is worth understanding before attending a session about it.
It is a government enterprise architecture framework — a set of reference models covering technology, business and service — designed to stop ministries building systems in isolation. NITDA's Director-General described the problem it solves plainly: "Prior to now, ministries operated in silos, making communication and information sharing difficult."
| What the NGEA does | Why it matters for a civil servant |
|---|---|
| Provides a unified reference model | Your agency's systems are expected to align with a shared architecture, not be built from scratch |
| Enforces interoperability | A citizen moving between agencies should not have to start from scratch at each one |
| Provides a governance structure | Clear ownership of data, processes and technology decisions across MDAs |
| Sets implementation roadmaps | Agencies can see the sequence of onboarding, not just the end state |
| Reduces duplication | Less repeated procurement and fragmented infrastructure across government |
The pilot phase covered NITDA, NIS, Customs and NIMC, with plans to onboard more agencies. That means most civil servants outside those four agencies have not yet worked with it directly — which is precisely why the capacity-building sessions matter. The framework exists; the adoption is the next problem.
What has already been trained
The DevsInGovernment programme has a track record, and it is worth knowing what it has actually covered before deciding whether the November session is for you.
| Session | Focus | Who was trained |
|---|---|---|
| January 2026 edition | "Preparing Public Servants for the Digital Era"; data governance, digital inclusiveness, smart cities | 1,000+ state-level and 500 federal civil servants |
| July 2026 edition | "Building the Skills, Leadership and Systems for the Digital and AI Era" | 438 civil servants in the August 2025 session; certificates issued |
| November 2026 edition | "Building Partnership between Nigeria and Korea"; Korea's informatics journey, AI capability, ICT cooperation | Open to all civil servants; register at b.link/DevsinGov-Nov2026 |
The pattern is deliberate: each session builds on the last. The January session was about the digital era broadly. The July session was about AI and leadership. The November session is about the specific model — Korea's national informatics approach — that Nigeria has been adapting.
The Ministry has also been running a separate high-level track. In October 2026, Minister Tijani led a Nigerian delegation to a KOICA training programme on digital governance in Seoul, in partnership with Sangmyung University and the Korea Productivity Centre. The NDPC's National Commissioner, Dr Vincent Olatunji, noted that KOICA's support had been significant in developing Nigeria's eGovernment Masterplan 1.0 and 2.0.
The AI layer being built alongside
The November session's focus on "building AI capabilities within the public service" is not happening in isolation. The Ministry has been assembling an AI stack for the public sector through several parallel initiatives.
| Initiative | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| GovGuide Nigeria | A multilingual AI chatbot for government services, built with Meta, NCAIR and Publica AI, supporting English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba | Launched May 2026 |
| Nigeria AI Scaling Hub (NAISH) | A hub hosted by Lagos Business School to connect AI innovators with MDAs for deployment | Launched June 2026 |
| SAID Challenge | A $7.5 million Gates Foundation-backed challenge to move AI pilots into nationwide implementation | Launched alongside NAISH |
| Government AI Campus | A partnership with Google and Apolitical to build public servants' AI fluency | Reported October 2026 |
The November session sits at the intersection of these. It is not teaching civil servants to build AI. It is explaining how a country that successfully digitised its public service — Korea — organised the capability, the governance and the partnerships to do it.
Why Korea is the partner
Korea is not an arbitrary choice. It is one of the few countries that has gone from low digital-government capacity to world-leading in a single generation, and it did so through a centralised architecture model that maps closely onto what the NGEA is trying to build.
The partnership has three features that distinguish it from a typical donor programme.
It is long-term. KOICA support has been continuous since at least 2013, and the NGEA project alone ran for four years from 2022 to 2026. That is longer than most bilateral digital programmes, and it is why the output is a framework rather than a pilot.
It is embedded in Nigerian institutions. The NGEA infrastructure was deployed within NITDA's workspace, supported by policies intended to ensure continuity. The handover to NITDA rather than to a vendor is a deliberate choice about sustainability.
It combines infrastructure with people. The NGEA portal and the DevsInGovernment training are not separate tracks. The portal is the system; the training is how civil servants learn to operate within it. KOICA's Senior Deputy Country Director described the programme as a core component of KOICA's broader e-Governance project in Nigeria, designed to "systematically strengthen the capacity of government officials to plan, implement, and manage digital government systems."
What to do before 2PM on 10 November
- Confirm you are eligible. The session is described as being for civil servants. If you are in a federal MDA, you are the intended audience. If you are in a state ministry, the programme has trained state officials before, and Bauchi was named as the next state in line.
- Register at the official link. The Ministry has published the registration URL as b.link/DevsinGov-Nov2026. Use that link rather than searching for the event title, which is how people end up on unofficial registration pages that collect personal data or charge a fee.
- Check whether your agency is on the NGEA pilot. If you are in NITDA, NIS, Customs or NIMC, the session will describe a system your agency is already using. If you are elsewhere, it is a preview of what is coming.
- Read the e-Government Masterplan 2.0 context first. The NGEA is a component of it. Twenty minutes on the masterplan will make the session considerably more useful, because the speakers will assume familiarity with it.
- Prepare a question about your agency's onboarding timeline. The most useful thing a civil servant can ask at a session like this is not "what is the NGEA?" but "when is my agency scheduled to adopt it, and what will I be expected to do differently?"
Frequently asked questions
What is the DevsInGovernment programme?
A monthly capacity-building programme run by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, originally an initiative of Minister Bosun Tijani, delivered in partnership with KOICA and supported by Galaxy Backbone. It trains Nigerian civil servants in digital skills, data governance and, more recently, AI capability.
Who is the November 2026 session for?
Civil servants. The Ministry's announcement calls on "all civil servants to join" and the focus is on Korea's national informatics journey, AI capability in Nigeria's public service, and ICT cooperation opportunities. Previous sessions trained officials from federal MDAs and five states.
How do I register?
Register at b.link/DevsinGov-Nov2026, the link published by the Ministry for the November 2026 edition. Do not pay anyone for registration — it is a government capacity-building session delivered with a development partner, and no fee has been announced in any official communication.
Is the session free?
Yes. It is a government capacity-building programme delivered with a development partner. No fee is mentioned in any official announcement, and certificates have been issued to participants in previous editions.
What is the NGEA and why does it come up in these sessions?
The Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture is a framework developed by NITDA with KOICA, part of the e-Government Masterplan 2.0, designed to integrate government systems and stop MDAs operating in silos. It was handed over to NITDA in March 2026 and is being piloted in four agencies.
How many civil servants has the programme trained?
By January 2026, more than 1,000 state-level civil servants across five states and an additional 500 federal civil servants from MDAs. Earlier sessions trained 438 officials in August 2025. The figures are cumulative across editions.
What has Korea actually contributed beyond training?
KOICA has supported Nigeria's digital governance since at least 2013. Its contributions include the NGEA framework and portal, support for the eGovernment Masterplan 1.0 and 2.0, and the DevsInGovernment training programme itself.
Will certificates be issued?
Previous editions have issued certificates to participants, and the Ministry's July 2026 announcement explicitly noted that certificates would be provided. The November announcement does not repeat that line, so confirm at registration.
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