E-government Reforming the Public Administration to Accelerate Development

1
E-governmentReforming the Public Administration
to Accelerate Development

• By
• Prof G.O. Ajayi
• Director-General/CEO
• National Information Technology Development
  Agency
• Abuja- Nigeria

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A Brief on Nigeria

• Area923,766 sq.km.
• Population120 million (estimate)
• (75 resides in the rural areas)
• CapitalAbuja
• GovernmentThree-tier structure - A Federal
  Government, 36 State Governments, 774 Local
  Government Administrations
• EconomyResource-based, with oil contributing
  over 90 of foreign exchange earnings

Source www.nigeria.gov.ng
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Must we have Reforms?

• The Information revolution is a revolution
  indeed! It has radically changed the way we do
  things and this is true for virtually every area
  of life.
• Globalization, triggered by ICT, has redefined
  the requirements for success and given us new
  challenges like increased speed, convenience,
  availability, rich content, etc.
• Services are the public face of the government
  and they need to be readily accessible and
  effective
  
• Public Administration, as we know it now, stands
  no chance of keeping up with the pace of the
  transformation unless it integrates the tools of
  the revolution into its system. ICTs are the
  tools of the Information Revolution.
• Public Administration requires a holistic
  approach, where the boundaries between government
  departments become transparent.

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Roadblocks to the Reforms

• Inertia/Resistance to Change Technology is easy
  but people are hard! People are resistant to
  change for all sorts of reasons ranging from
  selfishness to ignorance. There are people that
  benefit from the inefficiency of the system and
  would do their best to resist change. Others
  just have a phobia for new things and would
  rather stick with old inefficient systems rather
  than risk being a novice in a new highly
  efficient systems.

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Some Developments in Nigeria

• Recognizing the need to make the public service
  in Nigeria compatible with the realities of the
  information age, President Olusegun Obasanjo has
  approved the establishment of Bureau for Public
  Service Reforms (BPSR)
• The vision of the BPSR is to build a public
  service that works for the people
• The Mission Statement, adopted at a recent
  Presidential Retreat on Service Delivery, is as
  follows
• To build a Civil Service that is performance and
  result oriented, , professional and
  technologically sensitive and committed to a
  continuous improvement in the conduct of
  government business and the enhancement of
  national productivity

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More on the Reforms

• The core thrust of the Federal Government of
  Nigerias is to reposition and re-professionalize
  the Public Service for greater efficiency,
  effectiveness in service delivery,
  accountability, transparency and overall national
  productivity
• According to Mr. PresidentThis administration is
  set to conclude reforms and reorientation in
  civil service and to inject ICT to drive economic
  transformation in all the sectors, Government
  will set up National Committees to streamline and
  standardise all issues related to ICT and
  eGovernment applications at the Federal level,
  including minimum standards to be met by each
  Ministry or agency.

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Information Technology Policy

• In 2001, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of
  Nigeria approved the Nigerian National
  Information Technology (IT) Policy
• The Vision is to make Nigeria an IT capable
  country in Africa and a key player in the
  Information Society by the year 2005, using IT as
  the engine for sustainable development and global
  competitiveness.
• The Mission is to Use IT for
• Education
• Creation of Wealth
• Poverty Eradication
• Job Creation
• Global Competitiveness

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Sectoral Applications of the IT Policy

• Human Resource Development
• Infrastructure
• Governance
• Research and Development
• Health
• Agriculture
• Urban and Rural Development
• Trade and Commerce
• Arts, Culture and Tourism
• National Security and Law Enforcement
• Fiscal Measures

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Governance and the IT Policy

• Objectives
• To replace traditional governance with electronic
  governance.
• To create knowledge-based and Simple Moral
  Accountable Responsive and Transparent (SMART)
  governance.
• To reduce bureaucracy.
• To maximize productivity and quality.
• To eliminate waste.
• To increase efficiency.
• To create an easy and free access to government
  information.
• To reduce the cost of service delivery.

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Some of the Strategies

• Making IT skill acquisition mandatory for all
  government employees
• Ensuring through NITDA, the implementation of
  compatible standards for networking of all
  government organisations to share
• Establishing Internet connectivity and access for
  government employees at all levels.
• Simplifying citizens' access to the process of
  governance and government information by
  providing choices and options for interaction
  with government, and advance the use of
  electronic media for government contract
  tendering and procurement processes.

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Pivots for Reforms

• As adopted in the IT Policy, the following are
  the pivots for implementing the IT Policy and
  ensuring that the reforms are sustainable
• Human Capacity Building
• Infrastructural Capacity Building
• Institutional Capacity Building

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E-government

• E-government is a veritable tool revolutionizing
  Public administration to accelerate development.
  However the processes must be streamlined or else
  e-government will just involve the e-enablement
  of faulty processes
• E-government services should be easy to use,
  ubiquitous, readily-available, private and
  secure, cost-effective, innovative and result
  oriented

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Some Definitions of e-government

• The use of information communication
  technologies to improve the efficiency,
  effectiveness, transparency accountability of
  governance World Bank
• The use of information and communication
  technologies, and particularly the Internet, as a
  tool to achieve better government- OECD
  e-Government Imperative (2003)

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Potential advantages of e-government in Public
Administration

• Significant cost-savings, allowing funds to be
  channeled to other areas
• Reduction of Bureaucracy
• Increase in Efficiency
• Helps to develop an IT culture which will reduce
  the learning curve of subsequent applications
• Transparency
• Availability of government services online
  24hours a day, 7 days a week all through the year

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All encompassing relevance of e-government
For every life situation ...
Criminalregister
Marriage
Child care
Work
Buying real estate
Holidays
Passport
Moving house
Jewelers
Car
Company start-up
Building companies
Tourism
Driver's license
Unemployment
Removal companies
University
Car companies
Job agencies
Military or alternative service
Divorce
Legal advice
Apprentice-ships
Pension
Plan proposals
Choosing a vocation
Health ins.
Local companies
Social insurance
Starting school
Death
... a comprehensive range of offerings
Birth
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E-government in Nigeria

• On the 8th of March 2004, the President of
  Nigeria declared the 1st Stakeholders Conference
  on National egovernment Strategies
  (www.negst.com)
• A Public-Private-Partnership was adopted in the
  establishment of the National e-Government
  Strategies Limited (NeGSt)
• The aim is to use emerging technologies to build
  relationship with the citizenry in order to
  deliver services in a cost effective and
  efficient way

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Nigerian e-government model
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E-government Model contd.

• As indicated by the model, the aim is to address
  all sectors of the economy
• The strategy is to develop the different modules
  for eventual integration
• NITDA has organized a number of conferences on
  the different modules to sensitize the
  professionals in those sectors on the need to
  e-enable their processes. Such conferences
  include those on e-Judiciary and e-Banking held
  in March 2004

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Content and Applications

• They play a major role in determining the
  effectiveness of an e-government solution. A
  study should be done to determine the critical
  applications that would have the greatest impact
  on the administrative process.
• For example, a solution that spares a citizen the
  hassles of travelling long distances in order to
  retrieve information will gain popularity and
  will be subscribed to.
• There is a need for a one-stop portal that will
  provide links to the gamut of e-government
  services that are available.

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Success KeysA Need for Champions

• Leadership Rhetoric or Reality
• There is a need for Champions at the top echelon
  of the government in order to successfully drive
  the ship of the public service. When the decision
  makes catch the fire, the job is half done
• Constant sensitization of these decision makers
  is the key to ensuring that they become champions
  of the process
• NITDA, in collaboration with two private
  companies, established an Enterprise Technology
  Centre offer IT training to the decision makers.
• Once a process is adopted, there is a need for
  focus and disciplined execution to achieve the
  desired objectives

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Other Success Keys

• Proper Coordination
• Proper Funding and Strategic Investments
• There must be seamless integration of the
  different solutions

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In Conclusion

• Priority must be given to the development of a
  robust e-government system to accelerate the
  process of development in governance.
  Traditional methods must give way to e-enabled
  methods. Everybody, the government and the
  citizens, will benefit from this.

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Thank You and God Bless!

• Contact Details
• Prof. G.O. Ajayi
• Director-General/CEO
• National Information Technology Development
  Agency (NITDA)
• Plot 695 Port-Harcourt Crescent
• Off Gimbiya Street
• Area 11, Garki-Abuja
• URL www.nitda.gov.ng
• E-mail gajayi_at_nitda.gov.ng
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]