A SEMINAR TOPIC:

USE OF TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOR

PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

PRESENTED BY

AJISAFE, ADEBIMPE D. – 19232100133

OGUNNIRAN DAMILOLA A. – 1913210068

DEPARTMENT OF MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY,

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY,

OSUN STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY, ESA-OKE

SEPTEMBER 2021

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 ABSTRACT
Good governance is an essential framework which serves as a means of achieving
wider goals such as social and political development, alleviation of poverty and
protection of the environment. It is about security of life and property, peace and
prosperity. Without good governance, social, economic and political progress is
difficult to attain and impossible to guarantee. In fact, it is the bedrock of any
modern democracy. Promoting good governance is not an easy task as it is much
more involving than organizing elections and appointing people into public
offices. A free and critical media is essential to the growth and development of any
democracy. As a watchdog of the society, the media owe it as a duty to monitor
governance closely and hold public office holders accountable to the people who
elected them as required by the constitution. Given the appropriate situation, the
media are key factors in the overall strategy to promote good governance, rule of
law, ensure probity and accountability, wipe out illiteracy and eradicate poverty.
It is against this backdrop that this paper examines these and other challenges
facing the media and how to meet them.

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1. 0 INTRODUCTION

In simple words we can say that Governance is concerned with power,

strategies, policies, plans and projects that aim at improving the substance or
quality of life. Governance becomes good when the decisions and actions of the
government are based on people’s consent, legitimacy and accountability.

In modern times, good governance implies enlightened citizenship as well as

accountable and constitutional government. It is also a key development concept
today. The question is how to bring that development in to people’s life. It is both
inclusive and positive in nature. People must be involved in the process of
development by building up new levels of skills, knowledge and support for
development.

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2.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE- UNITED
NATIONS

According to the United Nations the characteristics of the Good Governance can
be summarized in the points given below:

1. Accountable
2. Transparent
3. Responsive
4. Equitable and inclusive
5. Effective and efficient
6. Follows the rule of law
7. Participatory
8. Consensus oriented

2.1 STAKEHOLDERS IN GOVERNANCE

In a democracy nothing can be successful with its citizen’s participation. Even

governance cannot be left to the government alone. The various stakeholders in
governance are:

1. Legislature
2. Judiciary
3. Media
4. Private sector
5. Social organizations
6. Civil Society
7. Political parties

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8. Executives
2.2 GOOD GOVERNANCE INTIATIVES – NIGERIA

In the meetings of Chief Secretaries and Chief Ministers held on 20 November

1996 and 24 May 1997 an action plan was formulated for accountable and
citizen friendly government. These initiatives are as follows:

1. Decentralization and people’s participation

2. Citizen’s charters
3. Sevottam
4. Results framework document
5. State of civil services survey
6. Model code of governance – State of Governance Report
7. Redress of citizen’s grievances
8. E-governance
9. Social accountability – Right to Information, Social Audits, Community
Score Cards

2.3 USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN GOOD GOVERNANCE

“E-governance is the effective use of information and communication

technology (ICT) to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and
accountability of informational and transactional exchanges with in government,
between government and government agencies of National, State, Municipal and
Local levels, citizen and businesses, and to empower citizens through access and
use of information”. By using e-governance the corruption is minimized, the
views of minorities are taken into account and the voices of the most vulnerable
in society are heard in decision making.

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In a country like Nigeria where people are poor and infrastructures are not good,
it becomes very difficult to provide services to the people. Therefore e-
governance is the only way to solve social and economical problems.
Government of Nigeria has taken initiatives to use the technology with
innovation and implementing it to improve the services to its citizens.

There are certain problems faced by the government in proper implementation of

the plan. Some of the major problems are being discussed below with their
possible solutions.

2.4 CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS WITH INNOVATION

The problems are deep rooted and it will take years to make the people
understand the benefits of e-governance. But it is possible if the people who are
affluent and literate take the responsibility and participate with the government
in uplifting the poor and illiterate

1. Cost of internet access: In rural areas the cost of internet access is almost
double as compared to the urban areas. Installing the telephone lines required for
internet access is almost impossible for poor people.

2. Illiteracy: Besides poverty, illiteracy is another problem in Nigeria.

Technical illiteracy to use the computer is much more.

3. Language: Most of the internet sites are in English language. In Nigeria

95% of the population does not speak English. In this scenario the use of
computer and internet is useless for the non-English speaking people.

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Solution for the above 3 problems: In every village one centre can be opened
which will have telephones, computers with internet access and staff which will
an intermediary between the government and the citizens.

4. Lack of participation of society, public and private sectors: The users

in government departments do not contribute enough to design the solution
architecture. As a result the solution developed does not meet the requirements
of an e-governance project and does not get implemented.

5. Impediments for the Re-Engineering process: Implementation of e-

governance projects requires lots of restructuring in administrative processes,
redefining of administrative procedures and formats which finds the resistance
in almost all the departments at all levels

6. Unawareness and operational reluctance: There is a lack of awareness

regarding the benefits of e-governance and the process involved in
implementation. In Nigeria there is a difference in the system of working in
private and government sectors. This bureaucracy creates hindrance in
implementing Documents Management and workflow technologies or bringing
out the change in the system.

Solutions for the above 3 problems:

• By involving the higher level officials in the first phase to create

awareness among government and private sectors, the reluctance towards
change may be minimized. In the second phase, next level of official should be
involved for this purpose.
• By holding regular meetings new ideas to design solutions architecture
may be discussed.

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• By advertising on communication mediums like radio, television, by
organizing seminars on the use and benefits of e-governance, by promoting the
information about the model states where e-governance is working successfully.

7. Lack of Unique Identity for every person: In order to implement

successful egovernance a unique identity for every single citizen is required. In
our country we have different identification documents, like PAN card, Driving
license, Bank Passbook, etc. Apart from this, measuring the population, keeping
the database of all Nigerian nationals (& keeping it updated) are some other
related challenges.

Solution: Issuing of Aadhaar Card is the first step in providing each and every
citizen of Nigeria a unique identity. It will have all the information related to
that person, including fingerprints and Iris recognition also. Making Aadhaar
card for 1 billion people is a huge task, but it is the basic step in providing
service delivery through e-governance. Till now 70 crore UADAI cards have
been generated. The government has the target to generate 100 crore cards by
2015.

8. Lack of privacy and security of data: A majority of e-governance

initiatives in Nigeria have failed to materialize due to poor implementation and
absence of proper laws. For instance, there is neither a privacy law nor any data
protection law in Nigeria. Proper protection of data and cyber security is a must
for the implementation of e-governance.

Solution: Indigenous Research & Development is an essential component of

national information security measure. The benefits include creation of
knowledge and expertise to face new and emerging security challenges, to
produce cost-effective, tailor-made indigenous security solutions and even
compete for export market in information security products and services.
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Success in technological innovation is significantly facilitated by a sound
Science & Technology environment. Resources like skilled manpower and
infrastructure created through pre-competitive public funded projects provide
much needed inputs to entrepreneurs to be globally competitive through further
R&D. Private sector is expected to play a key role in meeting needs of short
term R&D leading to commercially viable products. Besides in-house R&D, this
sector may find it attractive to undertake collaborative R&D with leading
research organizations.

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3.0 CONCLUSION

The concept of good governance is not new to Nigeria. Kautilya the great
Arthashatri in the 4th century B.C. has written about the good governance in his
famous book “Arthashastra”. This book is not a theoretical treatise, it is based on
the practical aspect of administration, which is still relevant and have universal
acceptability in the form of good governance.

Out of 37 states including Abuja Only few have been successful in maximum
score in implementing E-governance initiatives. Rest of the states and others still
have to gear up.

The present government is taking initiatives and sharing the information with
the public. Involving its citizens in the growth and development of the nation is
the best idea to run a large democracy like Nigeria. The celebration of E-
governance day is a big step in achieving this goal.

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