Professional Evaluation of IT Service Management Practices Using ITIL Framework at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja

IT service management practices determine the quality, efficiency, and reliability of technology services delivered to users in large financial institutions, and their evaluation against internationally recognised frameworks provides a basis for targeted improvement. This study professionally evaluates IT service management practices at the Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja, against the IT Infrastructure Library version 4 framework. A structured organisational assessment was conducted using the ITIL 4 Maturity Model, combining document review of CBN ICT operational policies, service catalogue records, and incident management logs from 2021 to 2023 with a questionnaire survey of 90 IT service management personnel across four ICT divisions, selected through purposive sampling. Maturity scores were computed for five ITIL practice areas: incident management, service desk, change management, problem management, and service level management. Descriptive statistics and gap analysis were applied. Available IT governance literature from Nigerian central banking identifies incident response time inconsistency and ad hoc change management processes as the most prevalent service management maturity gaps in the sector. The ITIL 4 Service Value System and the Capability Maturity Model Integration provide the professional evaluation reference. Findings indicate that incident management achieved the highest maturity at Level 3, while problem management and service level management both score at Level 2. Recommendations include formal problem management process institutionalisation, SLA review with internal service consumers, and biannual ITIL maturity reassessments. Keywords: IT service management, ITIL, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja, IT governance.