Korean Govt spent over $500m on Nigerian e-govt Master Plan

By Etuka Sunday

The Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo shittu has disclosed that the Korean government through its agency, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), spent the sum of $500m in developing the Nigerian e-government master plan and building human capacity for its implementation, as he then described citizens as government’s customers.
He made this disclosure in his opening speech at the official launch of the e-government master plan in Abuja.
“I must specially thank the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) as it would be interestinting to know that so far KOICA has spent for and in Nigeria towards the realization of e-governmentestablishment more than $500m in building a whole academy and providing scholarships for government officials (in nigeria and in Korea).”
“He said the expected outcomes of the e-Government Master plan are clearly defined while measuring its performance. Speaking further he said citizens are customers of the government and should be carried along through robust customer relationship programmes to continuously improve government services.”
According to him, the e-Government Master plan will drive transparency and improve the quality and the cost effectiveness of public service delivery in Nigeria.
Mr. Shittu, said that the National e-Government Master Plan was developed with its vision and objectives linked to the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) and that the move would improve the quality of life of the citizens by enhancing national competitiveness, facilitating market economy, promoting participatory democracy, and improving transparency in the public sector.
According him, the initiative, which intends to make best use of information and communications technology (ICT) was developed through research, collaboration and extensive engagement with other relevant stakeholders with the support of KOICA and that the plan also recognises the need to leverage Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to build a knowledge-based economy, he added that the ministry developed the master plan in fulfillment of its mandates to “Utilize ICT to drive transparency in governance and improve the quality and cost effectiveness of public service delivery in Nigeria”.
The Minister, who expressed satisfaction that the e-Government’s vision was close to reality, said “service improvement and process efficiency, partnership with private sector, strong collaboration amongst various organs of government, citizen empowerment were key objectives of the initiative.
And that with the citizen at the centre of the e-governance vision, “the overall purpose and rationale of the plan is to enhance transparency, efficiency and the quality of public service administration by developing the legal system, organizational framework, government service delivery, human capital, technology infrastructure and awareness.”
He concluded by saying, that the overall purpose and rationale of the project is to strengthen the efficiency and transparency of public administration service and provide multiple access and delivery channels for citizens, businesses and government employees.