It is definitely inevitable that public administration has to confront and engage with the utility of AI in achieving performance and efficiency. The pioneering innovation in AI and public administration has already been done by Herbert Simon, 1978 Nobel Laureate, especially in his research on organisational knowledge, decision making and human performance. For example, in his theory of administrative behaviour, Simon argues that since decision-makers and managers are not perfect beings, public administrators cannot be expected to make perfect decisions and choices. On the contrary, this is because they cannot think and know everything all at once at any given point. The limitations to their thinking and knowledge imply that they work within this “bounded rationality.” Thus, public managers make administrative choices that are “satisficing”—they are the smart choice not because they are the best ones, but because they are the most satisfactory given the available limitations.
Within Herbert Simon’s understanding of administrative behaviour and decision-making, we can then begin to imagine how the limitation can be reduced through the deployment of AI. In other words, how does AI intervene in administrative and managerial operations in terms of improving operational efficiency, facilitating informed and evidence-based decision-making, efficient delivery of personalised public services, resource use optimisation and therefore organisational productivity, while promoting efficient, secure, citizen-centred and modernised systems and work processes?
Public administration 2.0 is the forerunner, especially in the application and deployment of technologies in fast-tracking administrative and managerial processes and operations. Through the use of data analytics, and especially user-generated content and interactivity in Web 2.0, public administration and the public sector are better enhanced in terms of citizen engagement in the administration of government; decision-making is facilitated through data analytics, open data that makes for transparency; and administrative processes that are streamlined for efficiency through the use technologies. With the addition and application of AI, the administration of the public sector, and most significantly of the public service, is provided with a powerful tool for transforming the public sector into a mechanism for effectively and efficiently delivering democratic governance. Let me outline a few of such possibilities.
The first possibility is in the area of managing administrative routines and processes, by articulating heuristic models that reduce costs and man-hours, especially in terms of lowering labour and operational costs that have a significant bearing on performance and national productivity. For example, through AI-based virtual assistants, administrators can adequately manage their calendars, book appointments and send reminders. An AI document management system streamlines document scanning, organisation, storage and retrieval processes. Second, AI provides the possibility of stimulating several scenario modelling tools that public sector administrators can utilise in simulating and evaluating various courses of action and potential outcomes through the deployment of predictive analytics that assist in forecasting future trends, risks and opportunities. This implies, therefore, that administrators and managers can use AI tools to enhance strategic intelligence for problem-solving decision-making that anticipates challenges, gets early warning signals, and proactively devises strategies to mitigate risks or take advantage of emerging trends.
Third, AI facilitates near-seamless workplace efficiency, communication and team relations. In using AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, any public administrator and manager can significantly inject administrative sanity into the workplace to resolve complex cooperative matters, instigate effective communication, and evaluate inefficient patterns, processes and practices for critical review and improvement. AI also assists in facilitating seamless interaction among team members through the possibility of remote work dynamics, messaging, video conferencing and file sharing as enabled by such applications as Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.
The fourth fundamental possibility generated by AI in the workplace is the enhancement of performance management. There is the possibility of enhancing data-rooted policy intelligence and decisions by using AI to generate reports and dashboards with information about key performance indicators, trends and anomalies. The automation of workflow management goes a long way in harnessing AI-powered project management tools that activate task assignment, resource allocation, the planning and tracking of projects for updates, and the identification of systemic and human-induced impediments and bottlenecks. AI can also enable regulatory governance through the automation of compliance processes and standards monitored in real time to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements and organisational policies. This proactive approach can significantly reduce the risk of compliance violations, and enhance organisational resilience and trustworthiness.
The proactive initiatives of the Tinubu administration, through the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, are critical and commendable in trying to fast-track Nigeria’s functional participation in the global AI ecosystem.
We have the development of the national AI strategy and roadmap, from the 2023 Data Protection Act to the signing of the Bletchley Declaration on AI, that situate Nigeria within the capability readiness to deploy the best in global and national AI developments and initiatives that will energise governance and public institutions. What is needed more is the political will and the institutional reform frameworks to push the bounds of the capacity of AI to impact public administration and the public sector in Nigeria. One most immediate points of engagement for AI tools is Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign. One need not wonder too much why this is so. The civil service all around the world, specifically and the public sector at large, is still plagued with systemic and structural bottlenecks that incentivise corrupt practices. It is not different in Nigeria. Bureaucratic corruption undermines and undercuts budgetary and policy investments in the welfare of Nigerians through the drastic reduction in the quality of infrastructural development. Applying AI tools to the anti-corruption campaign will not only effectively enable the detection of corruption through the sophisticated analysis of financial transactions—suspected financial inflows, and anomalies—in government business and the economy. These tools will also enhance the government’s capacity to achieve optimal tax collection through the automatic detection of tax evaders and tax audit optimisation.
AI tools and technologies can equally be deployed to achieve security objectives. This will derive from their capacity to monitor crime patterns, predict security threats and enable crime detection using algorithmic protocols and the intelligence these protocols can generate to improve rapid responses during emergencies. Artificial intelligence and digital technologies also have significant implications for healthcare delivery through enhanced disease diagnosis and prognosis, treatment planning, and public health analysis. The same goes for the administration of service delivery in the education sector by improving personalised learning experiences and learning outcomes. In agriculture, AI can be deployed to analyse farming trends and patterns, optimise crop yields and improve food production.
When Elon Musk took over the running of the Department of Government Efficiency in the US, he was aware not only that he had a herculean task ahead of him to rationalise and optimise a large federal bureaucracy. He was also aware of the capacity of AI to assist his policy intentions and objectives. When he deployed the AI-powered chatbot, GSAi, and demanded the upgrade of the technological software of the entire government workforce, it was a smart move that would cut in half the possible bottlenecks that such a downgrading might experience. This is to enable federal employees to efficiently create talking points, summarise text, and write code. This then becomes the basis for expanding the AI tools not only, for example, for achieving efficiency in contract management and procurement, but also for enabling a hitch-free downsizing objective. In other words, the GSAi enhances the capacity of the government to identify and deal with waste and redundancies. Elon Musk insists, “A trillion dollars can be saved just by addressing waste, fraud, and abuse.”
It then becomes very clear what the lessons are that the Nigerian government can learn from this imperative of deploying AI to the urgent necessity of tackling the cost of governance and waste management. Again, it requires the most pre-emptive and proactive measures that the political will of the Tinubu administration can muster to bring the public sector up to speed in terms of the benefits of AI. This requires the government to take fundamental steps in institutional and governance reforms. The public service, for example, needs to add AI to the list of its urgent twenty-first-century competencies, skills and literacies, especially competencies in specialised data science, machine learning, AI engineering skills, and data privacy, governance and data security management. This is to the extent that Nigeria needs a critical mass of public officers who understand the technical and administrative significance and operational imperatives of AI in public administration and public service. Failure to do this means that despite the government’s willingness to sign on to global and regional treaties on AI, not strengthening this willingness by pragmatic institutional reform steps will leave Nigeria behind in the global AI transformation. There is, for example, the need for the government to put strong and attractive talent management strategies and incentives in place that will first counteract the perception of the government as a terrible employer of labour, retain the talents that are already struggling in government employment, and then draw talents, especially from the private sector.
As usual with almost all organisational and institutional dynamics, AI and the change management strategies required to bring it on board will meet with significant resistance from both the public servants and the citizens. It is the responsibility of the government and its reform experts to articulate change management that enables a speedy and friendly AI adoption. For instance, the government needs massive investment that ensure data availability and the need to build a data culture nationwide. The dynamic will also require the building of strong and intelligent support systems, especially in the public service, to enhance staff learning and problem-solving to address critical challenges before they escalate and make a mess of the entire national programme.
Finally, the downside of digital technologies and AI usage is their vulnerability to cybersecurity threats, data breaches, and hacking that compromise sensitive official and national information and data. The government, therefore, needs an adequate security system and framework, and new offices and positions that will ensure the appropriate management and protection of AI tools and government data. New roles required will be that of chief AI officer, AI security officer, AI regulator, and so on, who will be charged with the supervision and monitoring of AI deployment across the MDAs, as well as the implementation of the necessary legislation and guidelines.
AI is the future of government and public administration. It is one means by which the Tinubu administration can instigate a significant jump-starting of the Renewed Hope Agenda by dragging AI into its implementation and into the institutional reform blueprint to make it successful.
