An Information Technology (IT) expert, Mr Shuaib Afolabi, says the adoption of IT will serve as an enabler for transparency in governance.
Afolabi made the disclosure at the 2018 Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Lagos Chapter IT Conference and Annual General Meeting, held in Lagos on Tuesday.
According to him, if IT is properly utilised, it will spur many things in the society and inspire new governance mechanism.
“Adoption of IT will make government to be transparent and open, making government to work better and this will increase the trust of the citizens.
“It will enable citizens to participate in governance by being active either in Town Hall meetings or Community Development Areas, ‘’ he said.
Afolabi listed some limitations and obstacles which could hinder the adoption of IT as: culture of secrecy in government, which had to with institutions of government not being transparent and open in governance.
Others he listed as: lack of political will to implement policies of government, lack of information laws and lack of capacity within the civil societies and political leaders.
Afolabi said that IT could serve as a catalyst in information management by aiding government to have an efficient data gathering system and ease to disseminate information to people with the press of a button.
He said that IT could also aid consistency of information at any point in time, create anonymity and encourage feedback between the citizens and government.
Afolabi listed the challenges of IT as an enabler as: poor infrastructure, high cost of internet access and low literacy rate.
He urged the NCS to engage government constructively by having some applications that would have proof of concept from the tertiary institutions in the country.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, said that IT was a major tool for transparency and urged other stakeholders to adopt IT.
Ambode was represented by the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr Hakeem Fahm.
He said that one of the milestones of global innovations of the last century was development of ICT tools, platforms and applications which had brought about significant changes in the way we do things.
“There is no gainsaying that ICT has impacted significantly on governance in terms of the enhancement of ease of processes and a procedure which translates into improved service delivery to the people.
“In recent time, they had to introduce e-payment platform to the public to reduce the stress and traffic being faced when making payment in banks.
“Other several e-platforms and portals introduced by government are consistent with the smart city project which enhances transparency and accountability in governance.
“A major positive effect of all these is the increase in the actual revenue being generated by government which translates to improved quality of life through the massive investments being made in the physical and social infrastructure development, ‘’ the governor said.
The President of NCS, Prof. Adesola Aderounmu, urged stakeholders to be abreast of the changes in the industry and move with the changes.
According to him, there is no room for complacency as one should move at the speed the industry is moving.
He urged members to commit themselves to the affairs of the society.
