A REVIEW OF E-GOVERNMENT AS A TOOL FOR BUILDING CITIZENS TRUST IN THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT
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Date
2015-06-01
Journal Title
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Publisher
Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri
Abstract
Citizens’ trust in government worldwide has been declining over the years though not in a uniform pattern. Nigerians’ mistrust in government has been accumulating over the years by range of disappointments from the past and present government administrations. Successive administrations and regimes have always promised improved provision of public service and infrastructural development for the Nigerian masses as a basis for introducing reforms, policies and programmes. However, most of them ended up worsening the situation of the people. The objective of this study is to explore how e-government can be used to correct the public trust deficiency in government in Nigeria. The paper adopts available data and reviews of literature on the subject of inquiry. The review was carried out in carefully designed sub-themes to address the important aspects of this paper. The paper found out that there is a gap in the literature available on this topic in the past as little efforts had been geared towards linking the field of e-government to trust in government in Nigeria. The paper further established that mistrust in the Nigerian government was mainly due to by the high level of corruption, poor public service delivery, poverty and unemployment. The paper therefore concludes that the mistrust is not limited to military government alone. But surfaces in the civilian regimes thereby putting the legitimacy of the government into question. The paper recommends that the involvement of ICT in government should be offered in terms of participation and service delivery as a means to correct the trust deficiency as it creates avenue for efficient and effective public service delivery, mass participation in policy process, transparency in public procurement and elections. More so, the government must show strong political and financial will to support the growth of e-government system.
Description
Keywords
E-government, Public Trust, Nigeria, Public Service Delivery, Transparency, Corruption
Citation
Abdulkareem, A. K; Ishola A. A; & Ameen, A. (2015). A Review of E-Government as a Tool for Building Citizens Trust in the Nigerian Government. Sahel Analyst: Journal of Management Sciences. University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. 13(2) (77- 86) Available online at http://sajms-fmsunimaid.com/c_view11.php?id=4