Public e-Service Delivery Challenges in Nigeria

Abstract

Innovations in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the resulting emergence of the internet were strong drivers for the shift from industrial to information age. However, significant growth is not yet recorded in Nigeria on the use of ICT in governance due to a number of challenges. For instance, in a recent ranking by the United Nations in 2022, Nigeria still record a middle EGDI score and rated 140th out of the 193 United Nation Member States. Even though Nigeria has moved three steps upward from the 2018 report, the rating is still low given the government’s effort in advancing public e-service delivery in Nigeria. It is in investigating the factors culminating into the poor EGDI rating that this study assumed importance. Using qualitative data gleaned from the ICT directors of eight (8) purposively selected Federal Agencies in Nigeria. The study finds that the challenges identified can be divided into national challenges such as infrastructural deficiency, inadequate supply of electricity, poor internet services and ICT illiteracy as well as peculiar challenges like data privacy and security concerns. The study thus recommended that government push massive investment in the provision of infrastructure that are critical to the success of the public e-service delivery initiative. In addition, government can rely on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy.