Vote 1% To e-govt, ICT Dev, S’Korea Tells Nigeria

A lecturer with
Sangmyung University, South Korea, Prof. Hung Kook-Park, has urged the Federal Government to earmark one per cent of the annual budget to implementation of e-government and ICT.
He made the call in Seoul while presenting a paper entilled, “Master Plan for Nigeria e Government 2020,’’ at a stakeholder’s conference on capacity building of e-Government for Nigerian civil servants.
A total of 30 Nigerian civil servants are currently undergoing capacity building training in South Korea on e-Government.
Kook-Park said the Nigerian Federal Government had to create special fund for building and promotion of e-Government and ICT projects in order to ensure its success.
The lecturer said from 2000 to date, the South Korean government earmarked one per cent of its annual budget for the development of e-government and ICT.
He said Korea had sustained investments in e-Government and ICT-related issues for over a decade, which led to successful implementation of e-Government in that country.
The expert said that for Nigeria to achieve its vision 20: 2020, the master plan of Nigeria’s e-Government being developed by South Korean government should be adopted as national agenda for the country.
He said Nigeria should establish appropriate institutions for the implementation of each phase of e-Government and its master plan to ensure the achievement of Vision 20: 2020.
He advised the Federal Government to also establish a Presidential and Supervisory Committee on ICT/e-Government implementation to streamline support structures in the country.
Kook-Park said ICT agencies such as the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and others should be engaged in more field works.
He added that while government handled e-Government policy making, it should partner with ICT companies to provide technology and skills, as well as promote citizens’ participation.
The ICT expert said government must put all necessary measures and policies in place to avoid rejection or protest by the management of public officers for the fear of workforce reduction.
He said Nigeria could only achieve its vision 20: 2020 through total implementation of e-Government by integrating all institutions to have e Finance, e-Customs, e-Procurement and e-Agriculture.
He explained that in 2014, Nigeria was ranked 19 out of top 20 E-Government Development Index (EGDI) countries in Africa with lower EGDI of 0.2929.
The lecturer said the UN E-Government Development Index in 2012 ranked Nigeria 162 and in 2014, it ranked 141 among 193 countries by e-readiness and e-government.
It had been projected that Nigeria might rank 75 by 2016 and rank 50th in 2018 and 20th in 2020 to achieve vision 20: 2020.
“Nigeria has made significant progress for online service. However, the country has not fully reached transactional and network stage.
“The purpose of the master plan for Nigeria e -Government is to strengthen transparency, efficiency and the quality of public administration service in line with Vision 20:2020
“This figure exceeds, by a wide margin, the number of complaints recorded about the same time last year which was 338,” he said.
According to him, the increase was made possible with the adoption of new methods in the commission’s  investigations and application of modern information technology.