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Prospects of Nigeria’s Action Agenda for

Better Citizen Engagement Through ICT
for Development

Reuben Muoka
Head, Media and Public Relations
Nigerian Communications Commission

WSIS 2010 Forum EGM

E-Government and New Technologies: Towards Better
Citizenship Engagement and Transparency
May 13- 14, 2010
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e-government
• In this presentation, e-government and e-governance are seen as a set of similar concepts that though mutually
exclusive, are intricately interwoven in the drive to realize citizen engagement in the process, programmes and actions
of government in achieving effective governance.

• e-government: in the perspective is essentially the application of electronic resources and tools by government to
transform internal and external relationships and processes for effective administration.

• Research Report tagged e-Governance and Developing Countries defined e-governance as “ the application of
electronic means in (1) the interaction between government and businesses as well as (2) in internal government
operations to simplify and improve democratic, government and business aspects of governance.”

• The operative word in this definition is interaction because governance does not end with government and in fact,
there could be governance at various levels including political, corporate and social governance.

• “e-Governance (according to Commonwealth Centre for E-Governance, 2007) differs from e-Government:
the latter constitutes the way public sector institutions use technology to apply public administration
principles and conduct the business of government; it is government using new tools to enhance the
delivery of existing services.

• E-Governance includes the vision, strategies, planning, leadership and resources needed to carry this out,
such as the ways that political and social power are organized and used. Included within the concept of e-
Governance is e-Democracy, which deals with how the citizen interacts with government or influences the
legislative or public sector process.”

• The implication of this analysis is that there could be an e-government, where the government has fully
deployed ICT solutions for effective performance without achieving e-governance whose emphasis is on the
interaction between government and its publics. On the other hand, a well deployed e-government systems
and tools that are well implemented will facilitate or accentuate effective e-governance.

• The Commonwealth Centre for E-Governance, 2007 also affirmed that e-government objective targets
internally focused processes (operations) and externally focused services. The external being to satisfactorily fulfil
the public’s needs and expectations on the front-office side, by simplifying their interaction with various online
services. The use of ICTs in government operations facilitates speedy, transparent, accountable, efficient and effective
interaction with the public, citizens, business and other agencies.

• It from these perspectives that we wish to situate the current status of e-government and citizen engagement in
Nigeria

• .
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E-government in Nigeria

• “… we have adopted a national policy for Information and Communications

Technologies … with emphasis on Public-Private-Partnership … to ensure that
our country is part of the evolving Information Society … ” - President O.
Obasanjo at UN-WSIS, Geneva, Dec 2003.

• The statement , captures the obvious desire of then President of Nigeria to

adopt the culture of e-governance in the conduct of government business. The
President was in Tunisia in 2005.

• This was followed up in March 2004, with the launch of 'The Nigerian
National eGovernment Strategies & Implementation Roadmap‘ instituted
National eGovernment Strategies , NEGST (www.negst.com) This vehicle is a
joint venture conceived as a Public Private Partnership.

• The tripartite joint venture was registered as National eGovernment Strategies

Limited, NeGSt comprising Government (5%), Consortium of Banks (15%)
and a Strategic Partner (80%).

• The mandate of this joint venture is to create a practical strategy and a single
architecture to guide the evolution of digital government solutions with
consistent standards, operating platforms and applications across agencies and
government systems .

• NEGST facilitated the deployment of an e-government portal

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• Activating Nigeria’s e-
government
• A major statement of objective of NeGSt is that it “seeks to provide
governments at all levels and arms world-over, with value for money e-
Government project conceptualization, design and procurement, striking a
healthy balance between Costs, Revenue and good Governance”.

• It further states that “the import of NeGSt’s business model is changing the
way government business is done with emphasis on the due diligence,
transparency, efficiency and delivery.

• The first roll out of NeGSt services took place on Tuesday, 23rd of May, 2006
in Abuja with the launch of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria,
TRCN eRegistration initiative will allow all existing professional teachers, new
teachers requiring new registration with TRCN to enter and update their records
in the TRCN database from anywhere and at anytime.

• NeGst had set up e-Nigeria – the Nigerian National eGovernment Portal

(www.enigeria.com.ng). This website provides connectivity for some online
services from government and agencies of government.

• In the Nigerian Communications Commission website at www.ncc.gov.ng,

tweeter can find a companion. NCC is a government organization in the
forefront of the promotion of e-government and Internet penetration.

• Galaxy Backbone Plc , a public enterprise of the Federal Government

incorporated in 2006, has the mandate to set up a Unified Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure platform that addresses the
connectivity, transversal and other technology imperatives for Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.

• In that case, there is a conscious effort to implement e-government at highest

level of government.
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Nigeria’s e-Government Indicators

• Beyond these actions by the government at the Federal level, most government
ministries and agencies have websites with portal where citizens can download
appropriate documents and respond to application requirements where
necessary.

• The Nigerian Communications Commission, the telecom regulatory body,

provides downloadable documents for telecom operators and stakeholders @
www.ncc.gov.ng. Application forms for standard national passport can be
obtained from the Nigerian Immigration Services website. The Federal Inland
revenue Services, FIRS, has ample information about payment of taxes for the
citizens and corporate bodies.

• Some Institutions like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB,
which conducts examinations for entry into Nigerian universities, has all the
necessary information required by the applying students online.

• A number of State governments and government agencies have set up dedicated

websites. Most of these state government believe they have implemented e-
government.

• Many state governments in Nigeria have websites that provide information

about the actions and activities of the state like the Rivers State website in the
next slide which actually conducts opinion about government performance by
the citizens.
• The private sector has completely embraced e-governance. People are tweeting
with local companies. Some are advertising on facebook already and are
practically applying different web 2-0 technologies.
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Websites and Web 2.0 Tech
Applications: Critical Review

e-government is much more than deploying websites. It becomes more

meaningful when it improves democratic participation, accountability, and
transparency in governance.

Essentially, e-government becomes real when it allows for full citizenship

participation in governance. This is why the integration of interactive
technologies like Web 2.0 technologies become crucial.

In Nigeria, these technologies are more visible in the private sector than
between and among government agencies and ministries.

There is hardly any government ministry or institution where today’s Web 2.0
technologies are considered a credible medium of communications.

These websites are being deployed more for the purpose of improving the
speed of transactions rather than to achieve citizenship participation in
democratic governance.

In spite of these shortcomings, the level of e-government deployment at

various levels of government in Nigeria has satisfied three out of the five-
stage model as categorized by the UN, as indicated in the next slide.

Government is pursuing a programme of putting the nation among one of the

world’s biggest 20 economies in the year 2020. With ICT recognized by
government as one of the enablers of this proclamation, what may be required
is just to drive home this point.
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UN’s Five Stage E-Government Model

Stage Description
I – Emerging A government’s online presence is mainly comprised of a web page
and/or an official website; links to ministries or departments of
education, health, social welfare, labour and finance may/may not
exist. Much of the information is static and there is little interaction
with citizens.

II – Enhanced Governments provide more information on public policy and

governance. They have created links to archived information that is
easily accessible to citizens, as for instance, documents, forms,
reports, laws and regulations, and newsletters.

III – Interactive Governments deliver online services such as downloadable forms

for tax payments and applications for license renewals. In addition,
the beginnings of an interactive portal or website with services to
enhance the convenience of citizens are evident.

IV – Transactional Governments begin to transform themselves by introducing

two-way interactions between ‘citizen and government’. It
includes options for paying taxes, applying for ID cards, birth
certificates, passports and license renewals, as well as other
similar G to C interactions, and allows the citizen to access
these services online 24/7. All transactions are conducted
online.

V – Connected Governments transform themselves into a connected entity that

responds to the needs of its citizens by developing an integrated
back office infrastructure. This is the most sophisticated level of
online e-government initiatives and is
characterized by:
- Horizontal connections (among government agencies)
- Vertical connections (central and local government agencies)
- Connections between governments and citizens (including e-
participation)
- Connections among stakeholders (government, private sector,
academic institutions, NGOs and civil society)
• Prospects of Citizen engagement

• The application of Web 2.0 technologies like Twitter, Facebook and

blogging in its various formats are still alien within the realm of
government’s interaction with the citizens.

• But indications from the private sector in Nigeria is positive.

Websites belonging to private sector organizations have applicable
web 2-0 technology applications.

• By end of March 2010, about 1.2 Million Nigerians were on

FaceBook. Facebook is among the three most visited websites by
Nigerians. This is an indication that this may soon be picked up in
government circles.
• Having made inroads into three of the UN recognized e-government
stages that usher citizenship engagement, Nigeria has the potentials
to achieve a full scale e-government in the near future if she
surmounts some major challenges.

• The NCC has initiate projects to improve broadband Internet such as

the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative, SABI, aimed at
extending broadband Internet services to all the states of the country,
and the Wire Nigeria Initiative (WIN) aimed at improving fibre optic
connectivity across the country are pointers to a positive future.
• Two major international submarine optics fibre cable projects Glo 1
and MainOne are expected to begin services and will improve
Internet usage, speed penetration, and would ultimately improve e-
government.
• Challenges of e-government and
Citizen Engagement
The linkage between e-government and good governance has been
defined by the United Nations Public Administration Network:
"The strategic use of ICTs in government can result in a more inclusive, effective,
efficient, transparent and accountable public administration, which will be key to improved
economic development and competitiveness. Moreover, in enhancing the quality and
delivery of public services through ICTs - especially in education, health, social security and
social welfare government may be better positioned to reduce poverty, redress
inequality, and promote sustainable development" (UNPAN, 2005).
.
Some key challenges facing application of full scale e-government in
Nigeria are include

• Low Internet Penetration: With more than 78 Million telephone

subscriptions today in contrast with only some 24 Million Internet
subscription s ( 16% of population) by year end 2009, penetration still remain
low in Nigeria. This will ultimately offer limits to social networking
possibilities.

• Broadband Internet subscription stands at an estimated 800,000 at present.

Broadband Internet offers potentials for citizen engagement. In a situation
where e-government deployments in ministries and agencies are
predominantly of snail speed connections, the objective of quality citizen
engagement can hardly be achieved.

• Among the top echelon in government, the benefits and potentials of social
networking applications for efficiency of government-citizen interaction is not
yet appreciated from the perspective enunciated by UNPAN as indicated
above.
• The World is invited

• One of the key solutions to improving the level of e-government in Nigeria is

attraction of huge investment in broadband infrastructure that will deepen
Internet penetration. The NCC has pronounced this an area of focus in the
next few years with incentives for investors.

• Awareness through capacity building among key government operatives

responsible for deployment of e-government infrastructure is very crucial and
multilateral bodies like UN, ITU, UNESCO, CTO among others are invited to
push such initiatives.

• Persuasion of government at the highest level to institutionalize e-government.

When this level of government is convinced, the rest of the job would be
nearly done as it would take a directive for all government agencies to become
e-government complaint in the way prescribed by the UN.

• Institutions propagating the ideals of e-government, such as the Nigerian

Communications Commission, and other organizations formed to improve e-
government initiatives need some form of support or assistance from some of
agencies indicated above.

• Nigeria is a democratic nation where the voices of the citizens matter. In a

situation where majority of these citizens are not well educated to push their
individual and collective desires from government, those desires will remain
unattended. Therefore, there is need for citizen mobilization and education
for e-government which improves transparency. The UN and similar bodies
are in the best position to support the citizens in this area.

• Nigeria has a very vibrant parliament. Awareness programmes targeted at the

members by the UN will create a lot of impact in this direction. If the topmost
level of government is converted, the job is done because the foundation has
been laid.
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References

• Michiel Backus ‘E-Governance and Developing Countries

Introduction and examples,’ RESEARCH REPORT. No. 3,
April 2001 www.ftpiicd.org/files/research/reports/report3
• The Promotion of E-Governance in Developing Countries:
Reflections on E-Government in Two Asia-Pacific Countries by
Carolyne Stanforth and Mary O’Flynn(Prato CIRN 2008
Community Informatics Conference: ICTs for Social Inclusion:
What is the Reality? Refereed Paper
• http://www.negst.com/