As Nigeria inches nearer forwards fulfilling the dream of becoming a major global player, one critical area of growth is the e-Governance initiative. The move aimed at driving both governance and the economy. To experts, the idea can only be sustained through effective deployment of broadband facilities in the country. ADEYEMI ADEPETUN writesWIKIPEDIA defines e-Governance as the employment of the Internet and the World-Wide-Web for delivering government information and services to the citizens.Essentially, it added that, the utilisation of Information Technology, Information and Communications Technology, and other web-based telecommunication technologies to improve and/or enhance on the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery in the public sector.Ideally, it should improve the activities of government ministries, departments and agencies, with a promise of greater efficiency and effectiveness, which will rub off well on the economy.However, despite its noble objectives, the impact, according to technology experts, is still very low in the country, coupled with the fact that Nigeria, can confidently boasts of having sufficient broadband capacity through the initiatives of MainOne, Glo1, SAT3, WACS and other Satellites resources.According to experts, government must take this initiative at its disposal and stop foot-dragging on proper e-Governance implementation in the country, adding that, a few government websites and a few services are presently online in the country.This is corroborated by the calls from the National Information and Technology Development Agency and the Nigeria Internet Registration Association that, Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other business organisations in the country should adopt Nigeria's top-level domain name (.ng) to improve the country's e-Governance drive.Besides, experts posited that, the Federal Government, has not produced any convincing report towards the embracement of electronic administration or governance, even after several years it muted the idea in line with global best practices.To them, the electronic revolution is capable of bridging the digital divide and fuelling economic growth in any country, not even with the available bandwidth facilities at the country's disposal.But to the Group Head, FPS, Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Frank Ugbodaga, the e-Governance initiative of the Federal Government remain focused, with the aim of deploying ICT to drive efficiency and transparency in government and improve the quality of public service.Ugbodaga, who presented a paper titled: 'An Approach for Rapid Transformation Through e-Government' at the just concluded third West African Information and Communications Technology Congress in Lagos, noted that, the key imperatives for e-Government initiatives includes, improving service delivery to citizen services; creates a more efficient government and build capacity and preparedness.At the event organised by IT and Telecoms Digest, Ugbodaga explained that, service delivery to citizens will include among others, information sharing and cross functional collaboration; web-enabled/online/mobile services; cross-agency interoperability consistency; cost reduction, duplication and waste elimination; technology efficiency; information security and risk management; continuity of operations.According to him, Nigeria has high aspirations for transformation of the public service and governance, citizens participation in growing the democracy and achievement of National development goals.He hinted that, the country has set lofty Broadband penetration goals in the Draft National Communication Policy, adding that, the achievement of these objectives and goals will unlock significant economic benefits for the country through the e-Governance drive.But, He was quick to say that, some challenges, including weak governance structure; infrastructure challenges; process optimization among others still beset the e-Governance drive in the country.While acknowledging the available bandwidth facilities in the country, the Galaxy Backbone official noted that, a stronger government partnership with the private sector would do the magic.He said, should government and the private sector decides to forge alliance to drive the e-Governance initiatives, the following benefits abounds; increased business efficiency; creation of knowledge-based economy; job creation; increase foreign direct investment and others.'Increased broadband penetration and usage can impact on other service sectors like education, health, transportation in terms of innovation and cost savings', he stated.To further drive the initiative, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Brett Goshen at WAFICT said the future of the country lies in broadband development and efficient use.Goshen, represented at WAFICT by the MTN's Corporate Service Executive, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck, noted that government's economic drive must be centered on broadband deployment, 'the Nigerian telecommunications sector in the next 10 years will be driven by broadband services.'He enumerated some of the socio-economic benefits of broadband penetration as social media inclusion of Nigeria, telemedicine to enhance healthcare delivery, improved agriculture, eGovernment, eEducation, and business efficiencies powered by solutions like the MTN ePresence.According to the former president, Nigerian Internet Group, Mr. Lanre Ajayi in a recent interview with The Guardian recently, the government must automate its process and ensure that e-Governance efforts in the country do not fail.He said: 'I think it is time for government to start driving its own processes through IT. Government should be the model for its own citizens and businesses in the area of IT utilisation. If government starts driving its service delivery processes through IT, it will create a model for businesses and the private sector to follow.'Government should embrace and promote e-Governance at all levels. Today, most processes in government are still being done manually. If you still want to fill a form, you will have to go to the government offices to obtain a form. But this can be done online, thus creating a demand for IT tools and broadband services.'When this is done, Ajayi believes that a larger part of the over nine terabytes of broadband capacity available on Main One and Glo 1 submarine fibre cables in the country will be utilized efficiently.The President, Information Technology Association of Nigeria, Dr. Jimson Olufuye, stated that, e-Governance is one of the World Summit on the Information Society' s Action Line C7, with the goal of achieving a true IT-driven society by the year 2015.'It is regrettable that less than five years away, the goals seem far before us. While many nations have made significant progress, Nigeria as a nation has yet to make any remarkable progress. This is due to several reasons, including non-inclusive, non-transparent and close nature of project implementation, which does not provide for level playing ground for all stakeholders,' he stated.Others, according to him, include the lack of transparency and accountability in project evaluation and monitoring; incompetence on the part of some key drivers of government policies and the myopic view of e-Government ramifications by some of those charged with e-Government implementation.'It is like everybody is doing e-Government but no one is really responsible for the government's holistic drive.'Already, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson had said the country would need about $20 billion in four years to expand broadband frontiers in the country.Johnson expressed the Government's desire to transform all sectors of the economy through a robust and reliable broadband infrastructure for the country.'The onus is now on the stakeholders to advance ICT development in the country. This is the time for us to work together willingly, with the zeal of overcoming the challenges ahead,' said Johnson.
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