How technology is shaping governance and enhancing delivery

The primary purpose of government In Nigeria, at least constitutionally, is the security and welfare of the people. This is the case in democracies all over the world. The people vest power in their government through their constitutions and the government, in exchange, directs this power to the people’s security and welfare through its various agencies and the services they deliver. As populations increase and the needs of society increase in complexity, governments turn to technology (or e—Government) to increase the speed and quality at which it delivers services to the public.

The World Bank defines e-Government as “the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions.”

In a 2012 report on e-Government implementation by the Asia Pacific Telecommunity, 4 broad types of e-government were identified –

1. Government to Customer (Citizens) – this includes such services as license renewals, ordering of birth/death/marriage certificates, filing of income taxes, as well as citizen assistance for such basic services as education, health care, hospital information, and libraries.
2. Government to Business – this includes services exchanged between businesses and the government, such as codes, rules, regulations and policy documents. It also includes procurement, obtaining current business information, downloading application forms, renewing licenses, registering businesses, obtaining permits, and payment of taxes.
3. Government to Employee –this includes salaries and other human resource applications for government employees.
4. Government to Government – this includes the exchange of services and information either at the international level, between countries, or domestically between government agencies.

It is therefore quite easy to see how technology has the potential to increase transparency and convenience and make governments less corrupt. Publishing information on websites empowers citizens by informing of the benefits and rights they can expect. Moving services online means that people can be served without physically visiting the government agency or council office. President Goodluck Jonathan was especially proud, for example, of how fertilizer delivery to rural farmers improved under the mobile phone scheme.

One of the best examples of e-Government is the Gov.UK portal of the British government. It serves as a one-stop website for 25 ministerial departments and over 370 other agencies and public bodies. Users can learn about and apply for several services as well as submit returns in compliance with various regulations. From a performance assessment perspective, the public can view its live service usage data (13.0 million unique visits between 13 and 19 February 2017) as well as the most accessed documents. Even more importantly, as will be shown below, it shows service uptime (100% over the last 30 days).

For our government, the use of technology does not seem to have the same impact. Many government websites have outdated information. Others have basic information and serve very little public use. Others yet have lots of gratuitous and not necessarily helpful information. Collaborations between government agencies, like the One-Stop Investment Centre for example, rarely do anything to improve customer journey times. Government agencies are fenced off from each other, so citizens have had to undergo biometric registrations several times in recent history. Even then, with things like the electronic voters’ cards which have yet to be fully successfully deployed in any elections, the benefits are never fully apparent.

Agencies like the FRSC, Customs and the Immigrations service deploy new technology which fails to make their processes easier or more transparent and, in fact, seems to increase the need for touts and other middlemen. Sometimes, government agencies even take us back in time, like the Central Bank of Nigeria charging stamp duty on electronic money transfers. Or e-passport holders each still passing through 3 immigration officials to have their booklets stamped at the airports. There are very few government services that can be completed online. To be frank, apart from the annually perennial elimination of ghost workers, the immediate benefits of which are the government’s and not the public’s at any rate, it’s hard to point to a wholly successful adoption of e-Governance by the Nigerian government.

It is not entirely the government’s fault, however. Or is it? Modern systems aim for 99.9% uptime over the course of the year. This means that “server is down” should not be a status that cumulatively subsisted for more than 9 hours over the course of 365 days (we are judging you, Corporate Affairs Commission!). Of course, this target is hard to achieve without stable electricity and its success is constrained by the level of broadband penetration in the country. Additionally, e-Government requires robust data protection and privacy regulations. We do not yet have a specific data protection and privacy act. If citizens do not have the assurance that their privacy will be respected and breaches will have consequences, there may be a reluctance to voluntarily move to e-Government channels.

The civil service is also legendary for its resistance to automation, the dismantling of bureaucracy and the withdrawal of the wide berth of its pernicious discretion. This broad discretion to either “epp you” or completely ignore your file or application is egunje fodder and it is fiercely protected by the rank and file. Of course, literacy and IT skills are also challenges, on both the populace and civil service sides of the fence.

There is hope, though, as there have been successes in the more rudimentary forms of technology outside e-Government affecting governance. Videos have been useful in identifying overly heavily handed paramilitary officials, the most recent being the two soldiers who recently beat up an invalid. The heads of Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the Bureau of Public Reforms and Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative actively engage in multidirectional interactions with the public on social media and respond fairly promptly to issues brought directly to their attention in this manner. Audio recordings of telephone conversations between sitting or aspiring governors and the supporting architecture of electioneering have exposed the true nature of some public officials and public figures. Civil society organisations, BudgIT in particular, have exposed padding and waste in the last 2 Federal budgets.

The road ahead may be a long and tortuous one, but as the public and private sectors increase the use and adoption of technology, accountability and efficiency should increase as well, thereby improving the delivery of governance.