It has become imperative for these same governments to focus more on issues that improve access to basic development and welfare services. These same issues are related to redressal and redistribution of available resources. The last of the thrusts is governance, which invariably should translate to good governance. Good governance, expectedly should contribute significantly towards improving the quality of life of the citizenry. This is essential for efficient and effective administration in every democratic set up, which to a large extent has also been accepted as a basic human right. It is also strategically used for the welfare of the people and for public benefit. In essence, good governance is different from bad governance. Bad governance occurs when the authority and power of the government is used indiscriminately for private gains. When this is the case, the basic right of the people is infringed upon.
Further still, information and how information is used is very crucial to good governance in the public administration system. This is the case because the way and manner in which information is used in governmental processes and procedures leads to a conclusion on whether such practice is good or bad governance. Meanwhile, the selective usage of information results in hierarchical structures on which power and authority of government is distributed unequally. To this extent, the skewness in power distribution at each of the levels is proportionate to the information residing at each of these levels. Under good governance, the proportion of distribution of information is uniform across the public administration system. Bad governance situation on the other hand, entails a situation whereby more and more information are out of reach of the common man. When this is the case, the consequence is that information is only available to a privileged few that incidentally used it for the purpose of discrimination and for personal benefits and gains. This is after all a contrast to the very essence of good governance, which is informed-decision- making that is critically dependent upon the quality and timeliness of information. This is because poor quality and outdated information leads to poor decision-making and this lead to bad governance. Moreover, restrictions on access to information lead to manipulations.
Information technology based governance, popularly known, as e-governance is now the new strategy and also the most reliable short cut to realizing good governance. Its application results in Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent government. The acronym for this is SMART government. There are a number of advantages of an information technology based public administration system. The application of this, results to an efficient, transparent and unbiased administrative and management process; intuitive linkages and sharing of information resulting in comprehensive monitoring and assessment of government performance; promoting interaction and exchange of ideas, suggestions and innovations; and helping in setting in place an intelligent agent at the local level who may facilitate time production of information in a simple manner.
The potential of information technology in promoting and sustaining good governance matches or even transcends the potential in the commercial sector. Its introduction in public administration and management system helps in decision-making, given the prevalence of pluralist form of government that relies on adequate social capacity to understand complex policy issues and also communicating with people for its effectiveness. To this extent, the introduction of information technology in public administration system in Nigeria would lead to the reduction in the cost of governance and cost of service provision in terms of time and money and open the working of the government to public oversight and scrutiny especially at this time when there is a declared war on corruption. Other benefits of its introduction in Nigeria would be a redefinition of government's relationship with the people by encouraging economies resulting in efficient government; equal access to the government for all irrespective of social and economic status, sex, religion, caste and race; speedy responsiveness to people's needs; and responsible and measurable government.
All these suffices the fact that the definition of information technology as it relates to governance, is the technology of storing, processing and retrieving information and making it available for public benefit. It is the ability to store, process and display information and also the capacity and the capability of the telecommunication system to transmit information at a great speed.
The above notwithstanding, it is imperative to note that information technology is a combination of two key concepts- information and technology. Information here is a broader concept and do refer to contents while technology is the instrument used to manipulate that content. Furthermore, technology is truly an essential element in the processing of information transactions, where observation, knowledge and expertise form a hierarchical relationship. No wonder then it is a widely accepted fact that information leads to knowledge and more knowledge results in expertise. Additionally, information is derived from data, which are essentially sensory and perceptional. When such data are processed, organized or classified into categories to serve some useful purposes, they become information. The central hierarchical relationship of information can be seen as a horizontal progression from mere observation to information, knowledge and ultimately power and control.
The essence of the above two concepts is that both are crucial in every informed decision-making. This too is crucial to good governance. Again, the use and the influence of information in decision-making depend solely upon the ease of access to the technology and its ability to simplify information for use. This also reveals that technology has no role or meaning where there is no information or if it is of poor quality, out of context and outdated. What this means is that technology does not create new knowledge, rather it only helps in exploring and invigorating information in new and innovative ways.
For this to be implemented fully and for it to also boost good governance in Nigeria, it is only imperative that it should be environmentally conscious. This is because an environment conscious role of information technology not only utilizes technology for a better understanding of the society and their needs, but can also use the technology itself to protect the continuity of knowledge. For good governance, it is therefore crucial that information technology should be seen to facilitate public policy decision-making. And one way of doing so is to identify the misuse of information technology so that it can be fully utilized without the fear of separating it from human control.
In the above context therefore, it is also very important for the effective and sustained use of information technology in governance in Nigeria in such a way that functional areas in each department and organization must clearly be identified across all tiers of the public administration system. The advantage of this is the improvement of the linkages between the areas identified across different departments as well as across different tiers of the administration that are clearly established. A second advantage is the reduction in the cost of running the public service. Meanwhile, there is another potential advantage, given that a repository of knowledge related to the application of information technology in the public administration system would be firmly established. When this is established, it is expected to ensure the maximum use of this repository and more so, is made widely available through appropriate demonstration and training activities.
In the overall, the successful introduction of information technology leading to good governance in Nigeria must be matched with the total review and re-definition of administrative processes that are often followed to carry out a particular activity in government.
Autor: Dr. Raymond Nwadiuko
Quelle: AllAfrica, 28.04.2006
