Date Published: 01/13/10

Fallacy of E-Governance In Bayelsa State By Idumange John

Henry Kissinger - a one time American Secretary of States asserted, "the task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been".  What is the role of Information Technology in governance? Is government doing enough to empower the people through IT?. He said this much because of the indispensable role of information and communication Technology (ICT) as a vehicle of globalization and good governance.

Information and  Communication Technology (ICT) has been described as the tools for changing the world values and making our society a knowledge base environment where everything is done electronically. The Information Society is creating unprecedented conditions for bridging the digital divide through supporting government operations to strengthen the establishment of efficient, effective and transparent governance systems. Electronic tools can significantly improve the services and information flows from administrations to their constituencies. Communication among administrations and citizens and businesses can be enhanced, as ICTs offer unique opportunities for the re-use and exploitation of public sector information within the emerging digital economy which in turn create vast economic opportunities for the country at large.

E-governance is the application of information and communication technologies to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of informational & transactional exchanges with in government, between governments, agencies of National, State, Municipal & Local levels, citizen & businesses, and to empower citizens through access and use of information-governance has become an indispensable part of globalization and the Info-Tech-age. The deployment of e-governance infrastructure helps to improve stakeholders participation in governance to underscore the bottom-up approach to decision making.

According to UNESCO, (2004), e-Governance is the public sector’s use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective.

Nasser and Yared posited 2005)e-Government is being used extensively nowadays and refers to the use of ICT by government agencies. It is the application of ICT to improve efficiency and effectiveness, create transparency and accountability of informational and transactional exchanges within government, between governments and government agencies

E-Government is reinventing the business of government through new ways of integrating information and making it accessible over networks and the Internet, procurement and delivering services. It also transforms the nature of governance by affecting the roles and relationship between state and citizens and state and businesses. When properly applied, e-Governance informs and engages citizenry, directly and without intermediation, thus providing the foundation of direct democracy. Improved two-way communications between constituents and representatives and better ways for citizens to engage in legislative process are part of becoming an e-Government.

The goals of e-governance are to improve the internal organisational processes of governments at all levels, provide better information and service delivery, increase government transparency in order to reduce corruption, reinforce political credibility and accountability, and promote democratic practices through public participation and consultation among other functions of governance. Good governance can be seen as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to better manage affairs of a national development. The objective is to make collective decision-making efficient, democratic and transparent, to achieve among other better socio-economic outcomes and economic development and growth prospects. E-Government is also major instrument for achieving good governance accompanied by important investments in ICT canbe an important source of productivity growth and economic growth along with economic development and democracy. It canprovide a framework for organising comprehensive e-reform, starting with government and the public sector especially at the rural areas.

Governments around the world are increasingly looking for strategies to cut down on operating costs and improve delivery of services to citizens. The focus is slowly shifting towards giving self-service process improvements through online web based applications. When used properly, it can help planners and decision makers in making informed decisions leading to positive impact on targeted group of citizens.

In the light of the benefits of e-Governance, the Bayelsa State Government created the Due Process and e-Governance Bureau to improve good governance,  including transparency, accountability and civil society participation in governance by the deployment of e-Governance strategies and technologies. The Bureau was to eliminate all forms of fraud and corruption from the State public service through the deployment of appropriate technologies and procurement best practice and regulations. In the contemplation of the State Government, the e-Governance Bureau was to improve the growth of the ICT sector and this could be achieved through the deployment of ICT infrastructure that would improve savings by better procurement practices and price intelligence including state transactions and other economic activities.

Bayelsa State E-Governance can also contribute in revenue generation, and this can be achieved by the elimination of tax evasions or discrepancies can easily be identified and potential areas for more revenue generation can be analyzed on a timely basis. The thinking was that Integration of various ministries and departments for Effective Perspective Planning and Evaluation by all government Ministries/Parastatals and Departments. With a well coordinated e-Governance infrastructure, planning is done holistically and in an integrated manner. E-Governance is also critical to documentation, monitoring and control of various projects in social and economic sectors. Projects which are having influences in multiple departments/ministries and/or implemented in multi-locations can easily be monitored and control measures taken based on detailed level analysis.

The State government was made to believe that the Bureau would provide  e-Government coordination systems for Finance, Project Administration, Electronic Document Management, Human Resources Management, Schools Administration, Geographic and Land Management among other uses. The Bureau was also given a mandate to construct an Information and Communication Strategy that can be applied to the Sustainable Development of Bayelsa State and the growth of the ICT sector. Since the ICT Sector was to be a leverage for the Bayelsa State economy, the State send scores of eligible people to learn ICT in India. Through that policy, it could be said that the State has some middle-level manpower that can service the ICT sector, create employment and contribute to its vibrancy.

Even the Bureau acknowledged that one of its mandates was the continuous training to build capacity within the public service in procurement best practice, ICT use and the inculcation of the New Innovation System for sustainable development. In addition, the Bureau was to build a State-wide ICT infrastructure including fibre optic backbone, reliable internet sources (fibre optic and V-SAT) for data convergence to meet household, business, educational and other applications over the next four years. The goal of capacity building has been totally abandoned.

Two Years down the line, the e-Governance Bureau seems to be in a deep slumber. The Bureau has come nowhere near the achievement of its set goals. Like any other organization, the Bureau might have its challenges, but basically it started on a false foundation in that the appointment of the Directors was not approved by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. The most bizarre twist is that when the House summoned the Directors to appear for screening, the Director General Mr. Von Kemedi blatantly refused to appear, and by that very fact scuttled the exercise. It is therefore safe to assert that the Due Process Bureau is operating illegally without legislative approval and the BSHA is comfortable with this status quo. The question is; Why would the Bayelsa State House of Assembly allow the Due Process Bureau to operate without its approval? This is where most Bayelsans are suspecting that there is a conspiracy between the House and the Bureau to diminish the fiscal policies of government rather than reinforce transparency.

There seems to be a consensus that Bayelsa people are not impressed with the performance of the outfit hence the Due Process Bureau is generally regarded as a Delay Process Bureau. The Bureau is yet to grapple with the problem of low capacity and the requisite experience  to execute its responsibility. The  Bayelsa State House of Assembly may be commended for  passing  the Fiscal responsibility Law and the Public procurement Law. Experts believe that every government department has built-into operational mechanisms for implementing these laws. If this line of argument is correct, then price intelligence functions can be coordinated by a Department of in the Ministry of Finance in accordance with conventional budgetary practices. The essence is to ensure fiscal responsibility  and prudence in the use of resources.

There are allegations that the  Due Process Bureau is not determined to focus on the eliminating all forms of fraud and corruption from the State public service. Although there are claims that the Bureau has saved billions of Naira by identifying ghost workers through the biometric exercises, there are hundreds of ghost workers receiving salaries in the Local Government areas. These sundry lapses have increased recurrent expenditure in Bayelsa State. There is every indication to believes that Unit has given preference to contract awards because of the tendency of making quick returns. While the personnel of the Due Process are negligent in their primary responsibilities, they seem engrossed in inflation of contact values, awarding contracts to themselves and short changing the welfare of the people for their personal interests. The E-Governance Bureau has failed and the only way to rectify these anomalies is to restructure the outfit.

Ideally, the Bureau should be playing complimentary role in assisting government Ministries/parastatals to ensure government businesses are transacted with due regard to  public procurement processes and transparency. From all indications, the Due Process Bureau is helping to complicate policy implementation for the Chief Executive of Bayelsa State and had deviated entirely from its mandate diminish the image of government as it now serves as an avenue for fraud at the sufferance of the public good. The earlier the Bureau is reorganized the better for the image of Governor Timipre Sylva and the government. Governor Timipre Sylva should reduce his liability by restructuring the Bureau.

The Due Process Bureau has complicated the process of awarding contracts and other matters relating to financial transactions involving contractors and government. Bayelsa people have not seen any tangible achievements recorded by the Bureau. The emphasis on best practice is just an attempt to bamboozle the people. And it is not enough for the E-Governance Bureau to claim that it has saved Billions of Naira for the State by way of purging the State of “Ghost Workers”. The purpose of government is to provide an environment for its citizens to pursue personal and civil development. Patriotism is a strange word in the absence of opportunities of self-development. The public services can't continue with outdated concepts of organization and information in today's digital age. 

Most Bayelsa people are not comfortable with the fact that since the two and a half years of its existence, the Due Process the Due Process Bureau operates without a Due Process Manual or  handbook to guides public procurement and price intelligence. This E-Governance Bureau is certainly not the one Bayelsa people bargained for. Bayelsa State needs to make concerted efforts to explore those areas popularly called the “intellectual areas of development" such as education, libraries, scientific research, environment, culture and the mass media.  The present E-Governance Bureau lacks the determination and expertise to achieve the set goals for the State.

There is need for policy makers at the highest level of government to advice Governor Timipre Sylva to overhaul the Bureau to enhance transparency and the fiscal regime he contemplated at the onset of his administration. The Bureau as it is currently constituted is Due Process has not improved good governance in terms of transparency, accountability and best practices in procurement and e-Governance. It is fallacy of e-Governance in Bayelsa State.