Adamawa, Rivers, Katsina, Ranked Worst States in E-governance

Sunday Ehigiator

The Nigerian Panorama CGPI Reports on e-Governance, titled ‘Panorama CGPI eGovernance Report,’ has ranked Adamawa as the worst-performing state, followed by Rivers and Katsina States.

The e-Governance report was put together by the CIAPS Governance Performance Index in conjunction with Nigerian Panorama. It uses government websites to assess governance performance and accessibility.

The report judged the 36 states of the federation using 10 parameters, including: website security, content relevance, up-to-date, citizen engagement, user-friendliness, empowerment opportunities, directory, policy & regulation updates, accountability, and Online services.

According to the report, aggregate ranking based on the parameters, Lagos State ranks highest, followed by Anambra and Enugu States, while Adamawa, Rivers and Katsina States were the least performing states, respectively.

In terms of website security, Adamawa, Benue, and Oyo states were the least ranking states, while Anambra and Lagos were the highest performing states. In terms of content relevance, Adamawa and Ebonyi states ranked lowest, while Lagos State ranked highest.

In the area of providing up-to-date information, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ekiti, Ondo, and Lagos States took the lead, while Adamawa, Katsina, Rivers, and Taraba states were the lowest ranking.

In the area of citizen engagement & feedback mechanisms, “Lagos, Kwara, Ondo, and Enugu States provided contact forms, active emails, and complaint ticket systems. Many states lacked proper contact mechanisms or had inactive forms and social links (Katsina and Niger specifically),” the report said.

In the area of user friendliness, accessibility and design, it said that “Anambra and Lagos had intuitive, accessible, and responsive designs. Katsina and Imo had broken links and poor layouts beyond the home page.

“In the area of Empowerment Opportunities, Youth-focused opportunities like jobs and grants were prominent in Ekiti and Lagos. However, technical issues and limited visibility undermined effectiveness in most states.

“In terms of the MDAs Directory, Who’s Who in Government, Most states listed MDAs but often lacked contact information and bios. Only a few provided full organisational charts or clear roles.

“In terms of Updates on Policy & Regulations, very few states publish timely legal updates, policies, or announcements. This creates an information vacuum and fosters misinformation.

“In terms of Budget & Project Transparency, Enugu, Edo, and Akwa Ibom showcased budget details and development projects. States like Kebbi, Sokoto, and Bayelsa had outdated or missing financial data.

“And in terms of Online Services and Bringing Governance to Citizens, Lagos, Anambra, and a few others offer limited digital services. Most states lacked functional e-portals for payments, registrations, or certificates,” the report noted.

Speaking about the report, the Director General, CIAPS, Anthony Kila, noted that, “e-Governance is very important because it is one thing that most citizens can deal with. We think that state governments, which are supposed to be nearer forms of government to citizens, should be good at e-governance.

“The gateway to e-governance is the website, and what we have done is to check the websites of all 36 states of Nigeria to assess how connected they are with the people.

“There are a few states that are doing relatively well when you compare them to international standards, but there are also some states that are doing badly. Adamawa comes to mind, Sokoto is not doing well either, and I’m also not doing well.

“And I think the best way is to call out the states that are doing badly, so they can realise that they need to improve on it.

“The state governors, commissioners for information and technology, should understand the importance of e-governance and digital life to their citizens, and they should work on it.

“We recommend that they first get their priorities right, understand that it’s important, invest in ICT, and invest in people.

“I would be shocked if there is any state that is doing badly in e-governance and is then doing well in normal governance, because there is a certain correlation between the media and the news.

“If you don’t get the medium right, it’s almost certain that you won’t get the substance right. I’m willing to bet that the states that are doing badly in e-governance are probably the ones also doing badly in general governance. The report hopes to show the government and the people what they are not doing well, and hopefully, from that, discover what they can do better.”