CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Nigeria is among the countries in the planet earth that runs the three levels of government whose main governance is at the Federal level. Therefore, the Federal Government (FG) is considered the highest level or the first in levels of government activities thus, the problems of information dissemination to the citizenry is expected a good deal to be at the highest possible level or the FG level which is thought to be mirror of a nation. With the degree of proliferation and awareness of information technologies communications (ICT), it is of high assumption that the information retrieval, and or flow between the government and the governed would certainly have been improved with the technologies in place at the FG level.
Information Communications Technologies referred to as the devices for transforming the world values and making our society a knowledge base environment where every little thing is done digitally. The Information Society is developing extraordinary conditions for bridging the digital divide with supporting government operations to enhance the establishment of effective, efficient and transparent governance systems. Digital devices can considerably enhance the services and information flows from administrations to their constituencies. Communication amongst administrations and citizens and businesses can be improved as ICTs provide distinct possibilities for the re-use and exploitation of public sector information within the arising electronic economy which consequently create large economic opportunities for the nation as a whole.
In contemporary societies (years after 2000), changes in technology simplify the method people take part in various government activities. It is due to this factor that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are utilized to involve people in making choices that influences their daily lives (Kiknadze, 2007; Nchunge, Sakwa, & Mwangi, 2012). The use of ICTs in governance procedures offers a system for people to take part in decision making. This study cites the recent Tanzanian constitution formulation process as a legitimate instance where ICT tools were used to get opinions from citizens and various other stakeholders (Bunge Maalumu la Katiba, 2013). The adoption of ICT devices for information sharing and governance decreases operation costs to the government, while enabling lots of citizens as possible to access services easily. The cost reduces since there is no cost for travelling and various other relevant traditional operations.
The government allowing a recommended degree of transparency in its operations is characterised by the society taking part in decision making (Lubua, 2014). Transparency allows people to provide the appropriate evaluation regarding the performance of the government, which helps with the process of decision making with the ballot (Janssen, 2012). Although the government of Nigeria recognizes that transparency is an essential aspect of great governance, it is regrettable that bureaucratic procedures and local legislations frequently obstruct the degree to which people and other stakeholders access government information and the example of this is obvious in the recent ban and the lifting of ban on Twitter by the federal government. This denies people the right to make government leaders accountable for decisions that they make.
According to Sunday (2014) e-governance has ended up being a required political system in assessing government efficiencies in lots of developed parts of the world. As a matter of fact, using information and communication technology in government services with promoting government's duty in providing services, public administration and promoting active participatory democracy has been gaining an impelling force in the international community (Heeks, 2002). Simply put, governments throughout the world are aiming to determine methods to deliver public services better with tactical goal of sustaining and simplifying the governing procedures for government, citizens, and organisations.
According to UNESCO (2005) e-governance handles the adoption of new leadership style, new techniques of making decisions on policies and investment, new methods of making education available to citizens, new methods of paying attention and attending to people in addition to new methods of arranging and providing information and services. Therefore, evaluating e-governance status and nature in any part of the world, needs analysing a number of criteria and factors. According to Palvia and Sharma (2007), few indices have been deployed by the international community to evaluate the status of e- governance in country states, among such indices is recommended United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs. The evaluation is based on the development which United Nation's member countries have made in offering and guaranteeing the availability of e-government services. Therefore, this study seeks to carefully to examine the contribution of information communication technology (ICT) in National Assembly, by using Official Reporting Department as a case study.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The use of ICTs in government operations will no doubt bring lots of substantial benefits to the community. In governance, the use of ICT encourages accountability, transparency and engagement (Lubua & Maharaj, 2012). ICT devices enhance the capability of people to access and share information while improving their knowledge regarding government operations (Lubua, 2014). More significantly, ICT devices are beneficial to susceptible members of the society, since they help with information sharing at the low cost. Since uses of ICT create transparent working environments, citizens have the ability to put pressure to actors on the need to improve the performance and high quality of services (Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa, 2012). Furthermore, transparent environment enables members of the society to impose accountability to the government.
Citizens enjoy benefits of integrating ICTs in government operations in a variety of ways. Such methods consist of participatory decision making and availability of services online. Such ways consist of participatory decision making and availability of services online. Along with these advantages, cases are reported where a variety of ICT initiatives (projects) do not materialise (Lubua & Maharaj, 2012). Citizens are dealing with difficulties to access their services, also in organizations with reputable systems. Likewise, lots of authorities are not comfortable with using ICTs in processing the information that would certainly react to the needs of local citizens. Arguably, this impact the degree to which people are engaged in government activities. Can setbacks in using ICTs in improving good governance be associated with weaknesses in legislations and policies governing ICTs and related tasks? It is the interest of this research to attend to this question.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
This study has both general and specific objective. The general objective of this study is to examine the contribution of information communication technology (ICT) in National Assembly, by using Official Reporting Department as a case study. However, the specific objectives are:
i) To determine the extent in which ICT has been applied to the legislative functions in the Nigerian National Assembly?
ii) To investigate the challenges in the application of ICT to legislative system in Nigeria
iii) To proffer solutions to the challenges of the application of ICT to legislative system in Nigeria
1.4 Research Questions
The following statements are regarded as the research questions for this study:
i) To what extent has ICT been applied to the legislative functions in the Nigerian National Assembly?
ii) What are the emerging challenges in the application of ICT to legislative system in Nigeria?
iii) What are the solutions to the challenges of the application of ICT to legislative system in Nigeria?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
H0: There is no significant correlation between low level of ICT and a successful implementation of e-parliament in Nigeria National Assembly.
H1: There is a significant correlation between low level of ICT and a successful implementation of e-parliament in Nigeria National Assembly.
1.6 Significance of the Study
At the completion of this study, it is believed that the findings will be beneficial to the legislatures of the National assembly and as well as state assemblies of Nigeria whose duties are to make law in the country.
The study will be of benefit to the media who will evaluate the effectiveness of the legislation in other to ensure good governance and appraise the performance of the government of the day, and criticize when necessary for better governance.
It is also believed that the study will be beneficial to the teachers, lecturers, academia, students and researchers.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of information communication technology (ICT) in National Assembly. The scope of the study is limited to Official Reporting Department at the National Assembly, Abuja. The study focused on the interaction between various E-government Stakeholders in Abuja, and their views on the use of ICTs for public-service delivery.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
The significant limitations the researcher encountered while conducting this research work can be said to include the problem of obtaining relevant and up-to-date information and documentations on E-government development and programmes from governmental organisations proved very difficult and time-consuming.
Also, the researcher chose to examine a small amount of correlations between the variables in the research conceptual framework, however there are other interesting correlations between the variables of research conceptual framework that have not been included in this work which should be investigated by other e-government researchers in future work.
