Gberevbie, D.E. (2016) E-Governance and Accountability: Towards Achieving the Goals of Public Agencies in Nigeria. In: Proceedings of the 16th European Conference on e-Government, 16-17 June 2016, University of Ljubljana Slovenia.
![[img]](http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png) |
PDF
Download (1MB) |
Abstract
Research has shown that governments function better through the creation of public agencies to serve specific needs of citizens in a country. In this regard, public agencies are referred to as specialized units or structures put in place by the government to carry out services needed to facilitate development in any society. Past experiences have shown that public agencies in Nigeria are yet to achieve the goals for which they were established due to their non-responsive and nonaccountable attitude. Furthermore, it has been observed that the non-responsive and non-accountable attitude of these agencies are due to lack of access of the people to contribute towards the decisions of these agencies in terms of the services needed by them and how these services are to be provided to realize government’s quest for societal development. Therefore, with the analysis of secondary data, the study explores the possibility of how the adoption of e-governance could bring about accountability and hence achieve the goals for the establishment of these agencies. To accomplish the objectives of the paper, the websites of 16 public agencies put in place by the Nigerian Federal Government to aid development were examined and analyzed. These public agencies are: National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Office of the Auditor-General of Nigeria Federation, National Agency for Food, Drug and Administration Control, Nigerian Ports Authority, Power Holdings Company of Nigeria, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Prisons Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, National Population Commission, Nigerian Communication Commission, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, and Economic and Financial Crime Commission. The goals of the examination and analysis of these 16 public agencies’ websites are to determine the level of web presence and avenues, if any, created to enable citizens to gain access with a view to contributing towards the required products and services to be provided and how these products and services are dispensed to achieve the purpose for which they were established. The examination and analysis of the websites of the 16 public agencies sampled in this study revealed that none of them created avenues for citizens to gain access with a view to contributing to their decisions, even though all of them had web presence. Arising from the findings, the study recommends that if Nigerians are to enjoy the benefits of improved service delivery by public agencies, e-governance adoption for accountability must be improved upon. And this should be extended on a larger scale to the activities and processes of government and its agencies
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | accountability, e-governance, non-responsive, public agencies, societal development, Nigeria |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Mrs Hannah Akinwumi |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Jun 2017 08:17 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2017 08:17 |
| URI: | http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/8526 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
