The project is a joint initiative between private sector operators which operate under the nomenclature of National e-government Strategies Ltd (NeGSt) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), an agency of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. The overall mission of the National e-Government project is to improve organizational performance, service delivery and the participation of ordinary citizens in the day-to-day activities of government.
The scope of the e-government project as envisioned by the NeGSt and NITDA is elaborate with virtually all government business put on the line for automation. The intention is to use Information and Communications Technology to improve efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability in government operations.
Amongst the deliverables of e-government as enunciated by the Minister for Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun last week, are e-Tax, e-learning, e-Traffic, e-Procurement, e-Pricing, e-Mail, e-Tourism, e-Payment, e-Revenue, e-Legislature, e-Policing, e-judiciary, e-Health, e-Agriculture, e-Services, e-Kiosks, e-Buka and many more.
The excitement about the e-Government project of the government is that even though the scope of the project is wide, government would spend virtually no money to put it in place. The bill for the project has been picked up by the private sector operators including reputable financial institutions, multinational IT companies and their local counterparts.
On the roll call of banks that have lined up to bankroll the e-government project are City Express Bank Ltd., First Bank PLC, Gulf Bank Ltd, Oceanic Bank PLC, Standard Trust Bank PLC, and Zenith Bank PLC all of which are shareholders on National e-Government project. There is also a consortium of non equity financial partners to the project which include Bank of the North PLC, FSB Merchant Bank, Habib Bank PLC, Trade Bank PLC, United Bank for Africa PLC, Universal Trust Bank PLC, and WEMA Bank PLC.
The financial partners to the project would provide financial expertise and support the entire project life circle from planning to analysing, designing, building, testing, deployment, management and continuous improvement.
Multinational and local IT companies which are also queuing behind the project which promises to revolutionalise the way government business is done in Nigeria include such giants as Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Hewlett Packard, CISCO Systems, Accenture, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, UK amongst others. The local IT companies include JKK/Future Technologies, Zinox, Omatek, Beta and Unitec Computers, Progenics Corporation, SystemSpec Ltd., Econet Wireless, Globacom, MTN Nigeria and M-Tel.
These IT companies would provide the hub of ICT services on quality and architecture, project management, focus on Front-end service delivery, Backend integration, deployment, operation and maintenance.
They would also ensure the development of streamlined and fully harmonized e-government programme for Nigeria so as to ensure government information is accurate, safe, reliable and protected as well as design content and integrate it.
Prof. Ajayi, Director General of NITDA, says that while the private sector partners are engrossed in the technical management of the project, his agency would be involved in building capacity for the project and encourage the participation of the private sector.
He contended that the interest of the private sector in the e-government project was rekindled by the seriousness of the government in improving the way government is run through the deployment of IT.
He further explains that President Olusegun Obasanjo now has ICT as one of his priorities in line with his declaration at the WSIS last year and is personally involved to ensure the success of the National e-government project.
Prof Isoun thinks that with the calibre of reputable IT companies involved in the e-government project, he was optimistic about its success.
He contends that this new initiative on e-government would see modern government practice in the country like is done in developed and developing economies of the world. He contends that it is the model for a government that wants to deliver development to its people.
The fear in some circles is how the public service can adapt easily to the change that would be necessitated by e-government. How can employees in the public sector imbibe the culture of the computer age for instance after many years of moving files from one office to the other?
Prof Isoun agrees that such fears could be genuine but quickly adds that people just have to adapt quickly or get shipped out.
Said he : “I am on record to say that IT is for the 100 - 150 million Nigerians; not for experts. It is available for them to improve their economy; improve their health and improve their education.
Now if you are going to do that, you must do so through e-government. e-government is an effective efficient government. Government is not just there for itself, government is working for the people. And when the people are doing well, then government is doing well.
E-government is to help us to drive that message home. And to deliver that message.”
Prof. Isoun further admonishes all Nigerians to prepare for the change that e-government would bring. He believes that since this change was inevitable, we all must brace up for it, stressing “Nigeria is about to witness is a hurricane. I must tell you that and this is purely patriotic. That nobody, not even a President can stop it. Can you see a president stopping a hurricane? He can’t. No dictator, for instance, can tell you that you cannot send an e-mail. That is why I say you can’t stop this change that is coming.
So talking about change, we have started a process and instead of anybody trying to stop the change, he should better join the train now. If you don’t know how to send an e-mail, learn it now; if you don’t know how to type learn now. So my advise is that instead of fighting change, please take advantage of change.
The e-government project is part of the civil service reforms which are intended to make the Nigerian civil service proactive and respond quickly to the needs of the citizenry. It is a way of using modern tools to run government administration for more efficiency.
Partners to the e-government project say that the project is to be gradually implemented and could run into years before completion. It is however expected that it would start with simple operations like e-kiosk, e-learning before the end of the year. It would then graduate into other complicated tasks.
But with its full take-off, it would mean that Nigerians would be able to transact most government business on the internet without physical presence . This would no doubt save time, and money but would also reduce the leakages that attend government revenue processes.
Quelle: Vanguard, 03.03.2004
