IN a bid to enthrone transparency, accountability in the nation's polity, especially in the public sector, the federal government has supported the setting up of the Nigerian Electronic Government initiative, to deliver government information and services online, using the Internet in order to ensure that the citizens and businesses are served better and cheaply too. Electronic government is the use of Information and Communication Technology to improve efficiency, transparency, accountability in governance.
This paved the way for the inauguration of the National Electronic-Government Strategies Limited (NeGSt) on March 8, 2004, at Abuja, with the mandate to implement the Nigerian e-Government project, as a means of "improving the way government businesses are carried out, how services are delivered and how avenues are created for the citizens to interact with the government," according to the President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
He identified some e-government strategies to include eTaxation, eProcurement, eLearning, eAuthentication, eTourism, eAgriculture, eHealth to name a few, as eGovernment product offerings that could make government more compact, effective and efficient.
Chief Obasanjo also tasked all tiers of government; from federal, state down to the local government to join in the campaign to implement the eGovernment project, because his administration will actively encourage Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), for the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) citizen-centred eGovernment programme dedicated to transparency, accountability and good governance.
He further pledged his personal commitment and the support of his government to see to the actualisation of the project at a meeting with the promoters of NeGSt on October 18, 2004 at the Presidential villa, Abuja.
This strengthened the path to the signing of the shareholders agreement between the federal government and 14 other strategic partners, divided into three, including technology providers, banks and private investors.
Speaking at the ceremony held in Lagos, acting Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and chairman, NeGSt, Dr. Moses Ubaru, assured of the federal government's support and determination to see the initiative takes its stand.
He later led the partners to sign the shareholders agreement for the government as the representative of the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Turner Isoun, while the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NeGSt, Dr. Olu Agunloye, endorsed the NeGSt column among the participating shareholders present at the signing ceremony, presided over by a director of NeGSt and Co-ordinator of the National Cyber-Crime Working Group (NCWG), Mr. Basil Udotai.
Managing Director of NeGSt, Dr. Felix Obada, said in a paper presented at the ceremony entitled, "The Nigerian e-Government Initiative," that the 15-member consortium led by the federal government have signed a shareholding agreement to provide the necessary funding for the proper take-off of the National electronic-Government (eGovt) Strategies (NeGSt) Limited.
He said the signing would ensure that NeGSt takes-off successfully in few months time, and its a partnership between the Public and Private sectors, otherwise known as PPP - Public Private Partnership.
Dr. Obada also said, the 15-member consortium included the Federal Government, Oceanic International Bank Plc, Standard Trust Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith International Bank Plc and several others.
Stressing that NeGSt, was a creation of NITDA, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology; as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to implement the Nigerian eGovernment project.
NeGSt, he pointing out, is a clearing house of Information Technology policies and in alignment with the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategies (NEEDS), through the National Planning Commission, to ensure Nigerian's participation and taking of its rightful place in the Global Information Society (GIS).
The initiative, he said, is a unique one in that it was modelled for PPP, of which "Government is represented by NITDA, while the private sector consists of a consortium of top rated banks, two strategic partners, technology providers and high-net-worth individual investors".
Dr. Obada, further said that the primary concern of FG as far as NeGSt is concerned, was to ensure public sector reform and the institutionalisation of probity, transparency, accountability and delivery of dividends of democracy through good governance, even as the private sector, would focus on electronic commerce (eCommerce) and bottom line profit.
Assuring that the nation has the infrastructure capacity to implement the project successfully, he said, that about 70 per cent of this infrastructure are already on the ground, noting that the implementation would position the nation as an active participant in the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) ICT drive and various poverty alleviation schemes, deploying modern ICT tools.
As well, it would promote legislation and cyber specific laws to ensure security in the use of Internet and related ICT pieces of equipment.
In this regard, he also said that government has brought about quantum jump in the teledensity from about 300,000 lines in 1999 to over 8.02 million as at the end of 2004.
Dr. Obada emphasised that the motivation for both parties; PPP, is the socio-economic gains and general good-will that accrue through the partnership for the benefit of the citizens.
Pointing out that this model was adopted by the United Nations (UN) at its conference in Rome, Italy, in April 2004, to be used by member nations globally.
According to him, given the 'tower of Babel' phenomenon that had characterised the implementation of various IT projects nationwide, previously, NeGSt has adopted an approach that implements a single national portal, to link the services of various ministries, agencies, parastatals and businesses in the country.
He maintained that by having a single entry point into the national government is advantageous because it will integrate eGovernment service offerings seamlessly across different agencies, reducing the need to log-on to different agency websites to order services or find information.
"For the first time therefore, Nigerian citizens may engage in one-stop-shopping, and find whatever they need at a single source, namely the eNigeria.com.ng," he asserted.
Noting that due to public concerns for privacy and security in the Internet, "no expense is being spared by the promoters of NeGSt to ensure both technological and security on the eGovernment national portal," describing it as yet another unique feature of the Nigerian eGovernment initiative.
The third unique feature of this initiative, he said includes the adoption of a win-win, symbiotic alliance partnership which allows NeGSt to enter into long term working relationship with solution providers, infrastructure owners, equipment manufacturers and system integrators for the purpose of implementing the national eGovernment project without having to re-invent the wheel.
NeGSt, he explained, in its relationship with partners, will assume the role of "industry enabler, marketer, authenticator/certification operator, standardizer, facilitator, brand name and consolidator".
By this arrangement, Dr. Obada said, NeGSt will benefit from low financial entry into the eGovernment business while partners, will benefit from volume business as they are patronised by all tiers of government and businesses nationwide. Therefore, leveraging on existing infrastructure, capabilities and capacities without a compelling necessity to own IT infrastructure or software solutions.
This, he said, would enable NeGSt to assume the role of 'eGovernment Operator' and not 'eGovernment owner' while monitoring the implementation of various product offerings to ensure proper linkages with other international initiatives and assuming oversight functions via strategic direction, vision, policy co-ordination and advocacy in relation to the global agenda on ICT development.
Further, he highlighted the most innovative feature of the initiative as the creation of several NeGSt product offerings as Strategic Business Units (SBUs) appropriately sized to benefit from the Small and Medium Scale Enterprise scheme, which will become stand-alone, small scale businesses managed wholly or partly by the partners and having a full complement of its independent Board of Directors.
This approach, NeGSt boss noted, will not constitute a dispersal of responsibilities, rather, it is designed to carry the idea of IT product specialization to its most logical conclusion and also create healthy competition and synergy.
The variety and complexity of eGovernment deliverables, he assured, make this approach suitable to the Nigerian situation where a single portal, security features and payment engine is shared across the board thus making services more widely accessible to the general public.
He concluded by saying that in the next six months, NeGSt is set to embark on a systematic roll-out of its products, based on identified national priority and the eReadiness of the prospective users.
However, one thing is clear, the usage of foreign software the to power the likes of Immigration and Customs services in this project among others, could pose a danger. Though, that to a large extent is a challenge for local software developers to be of international standards.
But until when Nigerians begin to feel the impact of NeGSt as promised in the weeks to come, be Internet ready yourself.
Autor: Remmy Nweke
Quelle: AllAfrica, 20.01.2005
