PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVES ON PROMOTION OF TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY IN SERVICE DELIVERY; NITDA Moves to Facilitate Compliance of MDA’s

DR. ISA ALI IBRAHIM PANTAMI

The recent Presidential Orders issued by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo, SAN, has begun to manifest with regards to the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment.

The Presidential Order, according to the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, is designed to facilitate the ease of doing business in Nigeria as it relates to the use of ICT for efficient service delivery.

In a statement signed personally by the Director General of NITDA, Dr. Ali Isa Ibrahim Pantami, he disclosed that his organization has conducted business friendly assessment of the websites of Federal Ministries.

According to the NITDA boss, “the Management would like to bring to the attention of the MDAs and the general public its observations and strategies put in place to promote efficient online service delivery in government”. 

“The assessment revealed that most of the websites are not in conformity with published standards and guidelines for government websites. Most of the websites do not have feedback and information necessary to facilitate ease of doing business. For instance, only 25% and 37% of the websites have reachable phone numbers and email addresses respectively”, he said.

In addition, some of the websites do not have complete list of website links of the Agencies under their supervision and the content outdated, the NITDA CEO stated.

Furthermore, some Ministries either have no active websites or are not registered on .GOV.NG domain. Businesses and citizens expect more transparent, accessible, and responsive services from government agencies and it is essential that Federal Ministries take the lead in ensuring that information provided on their websites meets such expectations, he disclosed.

The NITDA boss therefore called on Federal Ministries, especially those affected, to ensure that on their websites:

•      contact information are accurate and reachable and means of interaction such as online feedback are integrated;

•      the content and the list of website links of the Agencies under their supervision are complete and up-to-date; and

•      detailed requirements or conditions for service provision and electronic mode of communicating acceptance and rejection of applications as stated in the executive order are conspicuously published.

Furthermore, government agencies at all levels (Federal, State and Local Government) are required to use the .GOV.NG domain in line with Nigerian content in ICT promotion. The “.GOV.NG domain”, according to Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, “is the Nigerian Government identity on the Internet”.

In his words, “NITDA's management has put in place more efficient and effective measures to improve service delivery of the .GOV.NG domain management and administration and quick turnaround has been achieved. Requests for domain registration and other support services are attended to within 24hrs if all the requirements are provided. Further information on these requirements can be obtained by sending requests to domains@nitda.gov.ng”, he said.

He therefore call on all MDAs and other stakeholders in the IT sector to support the Agency in ensuring compliance to the standards and guidelines for government websites as this will assist in facilitating ease of doing business and e-governance adoption and penetration for effective, transparent, accessible, and responsive service delivery.