BY IKENNA ASOMBA
If the February 14, 2015 presidential elections come to fruition, it will be exactly 16 years of unbroken democracy and the fourth time the nation will witness a successful transition from one democratically elected government to another. With less than eight months to go, the nation’s political landscape has been witnessing cross-carpeting, mudslinging, name-calling and all forms of political intrigues.

The people: Unfortunately, since 1999, it has been commonplace that despite electoral promises by some politicians during campaigns, the concept of delivering services to the people is no longer seen as an obligation after the election year. The distance between the citizens and their government continues to widen, as the people are alienated from governance and the dividends of democracy.

Arguing that the efficiency of the current system has become questionable, members of the academia who spoke at the 2014 Conference on E-Governance in Nigeria, organised by the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University (CU), Ota, Ogun State, have said that it has become expedient for expanding or strengthening the ways and means of delivering public services, promoting transparency and enhancing the interactions between citizens and government, noting that e-governance is definitely the attractive option in the interest of national development.

Those who spoke at the event tagged: E-Governance in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges for Civic Engagement and Participation were; Prof. Charles Ayo, Vice-Chancellor, CU; Prof. Etim Anim, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Communication Technology, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), Calabar; Dr. Sheriff Folarin, Head, Department of Political Science and International Relations, CU; Prof. Patience Akpan-Obong of the School of Letters and Sciences, Arizona State University, USA and Prof. Kayode Soremekun of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, CU among others.

Nigeria, not yet there:
Prof Ayo, who described e-governance as an attempt to improve the administration of government through the use of information and communication technology, reducing the bureaucracy of government’s businesses, as well as bringing about accountability in managing the affairs of the country, however decried that despite Nigeria’s 15 years of unbroken democracy, little or no application of e-governance has hindered the grassroots from feeling the true dividends of democracy.

He said: “Nigeria is not there yet. I know government in the past made frantic efforts to institutionalize e-governance through the installation of V-SAT facilities across the 774 LGAs, but if you look at the 15 years of democracy in Nigeria, and look at where we are, I am not sure we are making the necessary progress towards attaining that, because if we are, the Boko Haram saga would have been nipped in the bud.”

Corruption:
Lamenting that corruption has continued to hinder the nation’s national development because of the irresponsibility of elected leaders and lack of transparency in governance, the don urged government at all levels to put in place an avenue for the general populace to be heard on all issues of governance.

“The people should have a voice in ongoing discourse, even from their houses. Not necessarily interjecting but saying at their own level, that they have voted somebody at the ward, that they have voted somebody at the local government, that they have representatives at the state and federal level and there should be a way by which they interact. There should be a forum by which they are duly consulted. If that is done, that will put in place accountability in government.

“Those in leadership will begin to be cautious because the opinions of the people count and as such, there will be second thought that borders on the activities of the people. Suffice to say, people will be mindful of corruption, because at any point, the masses that voted them into power can raise an eyebrow about their activities. This system will no doubt, engender transparency and government will be better for it.”

On his part, Professor Anim, who stated that e-governance allows citizens to communicate with government, participate in the governments’ policy-making and the democratic political process, however said there are impediments to the effective practice of e-governance in Nigeria.

His words: “Democracy has had difficulty taking off because many of the actors in the political arena, who also find themselves in critical public positions, were born into a non-responsive, non-transparent, and prebendal political culture. Even law-making is conducted against the background of what the lawmakers stand to gain from it now or in the future. Corruption has become part of the national ethos; rather than abate with the passage of time, it has escalated

The consequences include a national character of not implementing policy or decisions on even vital national issues. Doing things the right way now tends to be the anomaly. The development of the country is, therefore, held hostage by its culture of impunity, and there is a low level of citizen awareness of e-governance and, therefore, a low level of citizen demand for its adoption and implementation.”

The facilitator, Prof. Akpan-Obong said: “The role of ICT in national development has always been of interest to me in terms of my research and in my teachings. In other societies and especially the United States of America, where I live, I see how the people, the government and politicians use ICT for a whole lot of processes.

For instance in 2008, when Barrack Obama was announcing the choice of his Vice-President, he sent text messages to all his supporters, because they have a database for the phone numbers of Americans. He also used social network a lot during his campaign in 2008 and in 2012. But here in Nigeria, despite the mobile phone penetration, there is still a continuous disconnect between the government, public officials and the people.

For instance, here, you call public officials nobody picks up the phone, you send an email, nobody responds. We do have the technology, but we lack the political development and participation.”