By Sola Obagbemisoye
Ondo State Government is building a digitally empowered civil service that will be more efficient and respond quickly to the demands of the public.
The Executive Chairman of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) Akure, Hon. Tomide Akinribido said this while declaring open a two- day high-level Artificial Intelligence (AI) immersion workshop in partnership with CloudPlexo and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Akure, Ondo State Capital, from November 19-20th,2025.
According to the Chairman, the two-day technical workshop was put in place basically to train Permanent Secretaries, Administrative Secretaries, technical heads and other critical stakeholders to build a unified understanding of AI, identify quick-win use cases that can immediately improve service delivery and equip decision makers in readiness for the take-off of artificial intelligence throughout the state.
“The immersion workshop, which is a quick follow up to the Ondo state AI adoption summit held three weeks ago is to provide experience in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and cloud solutions which is aim at equipping decision-makers with the insights needed to guide AI adoption within the MDAs”. Hon. Akinribido said.
While appreciating the state Governor, His Excellency, Dr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwaa for his unalloyed support towards digital transformation of the state, Hon. Akinribido expressed the hope that the Governor will definitely leave behind legacy of a digitally empowered, data- driven and innovation-ready public service in the state.
He therefore reassured the state workforce that AI does not aim to replace them but to empower and free them from undue delay and repetitive tasks.
Welcoming the participants, Permanent Secretary of SITA, Dr. Mrs. Folukemi Aladenola said the theme of the workshop is a declaration of intent that reflects the vision of the Governor, His Excellency, Dr. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa to build a smart, efficient, transparent and citizen-centred public service that leverages on cutting-edge technology to solve real public challenges.
As she put it, “this workshop was designed not just to inform but to empower the accounting officers to become champions of AI- driven transformation in their respective MDAs”.
She at this point charged the participants especially the Permanent Secretaries who will lead the implementation of AI in the MDAs to fully engage in the practical aspect of the workshop.
Presenting a lead paper tagged ‘Framing the Journey’ at the technical session, a team leader, Beatrice Sotunbo of CloudPlexo Pro Labs Ltd took the participants through how to scale-up office processes such as documentation, research and calculations among others while the participants were later drilled in the practical application of AI on office daily routines.
Key participants at the workshop included the newly appointed Director- General of PPIMU Engr. Razaq Obe, Ondo state Auditor-General, Mr. Sunday Adegoke, while the body of the Permanent Secretaries from key MDAs such as the Office of the Head of Service, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Idowu Ojo, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr. Segun Odusanya, Ministry of Commerce, Mrs. Toyin Esther Oni, Ministry of Education, Dr. Akindele Ige, Ministry of Physical Planning, Olugbenga Akingbasote mni, Ministry of Youth & Sports, Tolu Adeyemi, Cabinet & Special Duties, Adeyemo Adeyemi Julius and others were led by their chairman, Chief Bunmi Alade to the workshop.