IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Away from the conservatism in public sector administration of the past, e-governance is beginning to take shape in Nigeria. That was the submission of Folabi Esan, Regional Manager, West Africa and Managing Director of SAP Nigeria Limited in an interactive section with journalists recently. While acknowledging that a full appreciation of e-governance by various governments may take some time, Esan said that e-governance application is however starting well in Nigeria. Esan contended that e-government implementation is a step-by step project. The first step, he said, is the use of technology to communicate and interact better within the administration, while the second step is the use of technology to communicate with business. This stage, he said, involves the use of the internet, dial-up, and other electronic means to reach business and vice versa. The third stage is when government use technology to reach its citizens; where citizens can on their own interact with government through electronic means.

He said that with the implementation of SAP by the Delta State government, it was in the first stage of e-government implementation.

Esan further contended that with greater and more proficient use of e-governance, the need for more infrastructure becomes obvious. He therefore submits that the development of e-governance is keeping pace with the level of infrastructure development in the country.

Said he,: "As you see, the further you get down the chain, the more you need the infrastructure and I think that what we are seeing is keeping pace with the infrastructure that we have."

Esan contended that with what we have in Nigeria, a solid foundation is being laid for e-governance in Nigeria, but stressed the need to call on government to hasten up the process so that Nigerians can all enjoy the benefit of e-governance.

Esan opined that Nigeria can achieve the objective by encouraging infrastructure builders and encouraging technology companies to work with government in partnership to ensure that these benefits are not lost and Nigeria is not left behind.

Appraising the need for e-government in running the public service in Nigeria, Esan said " I think there is a general agreement amongst the population, amongst leaders in the country that we need to have more transparency, more accountability within the public and private life as the government is better able to allocate funds, the society in general will be able to benefit from this" Education, the enlightenment and success, Esan dismissed the impression that SAP Erp solution is expensive to deploy. " I think they cannot only dream it, they can actually acquire it and I know that there are some who have actually done so. I think the cost of any technology solution depends on many factors; the software is only one of those factors. And obviously, you have hardware, training, communications and other factors..... what we are saying is that the technology part is easy, that you can get it. But to create the change, to do the training, that is really where you see failure.

Quelle: Vanguard