13th June, 2014
The e-government master-plan designed for Nigeria by Prof. Hung Park would be ready in August, the Korean expert disclosed on Thursday in Abuja.
Park, the leader of a team of experts engaged by the federal government to develop the master plan made the disclosure in an interview with NAN.
Minister of Communication Technology, Omobola Johnson, had contracted the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to develop an e-government master plan for Nigeria.
Park said that the master plan contained 10 e-government strategies, five policies, a road map on implementation of projects and the duration each project should take.
He said that the master plan also contained budget implication for projects and the institutions, agencies and organisations to execute each project.
Park, a Director at the Centre for International Development Cooperation, Sangmyung University, Korea, advised government to set aside special fund and allocate annual budget for the actualisation of the e-government project.
He also urged for the setting up of a presidential committee on e-government.
According to him, the committee will oversee the planning and implementation of the e-government master plan in the country.
He said the committee would establish a legal and organisational framework to drive the implementation of e-government projects in the country.
“For e-government to succeed in Nigeria, it must be presidentially driven.
“Although there is presently a presidential committee on broadband, but that is not enough as broadband is just an aspect of e-government.
“Funds must be set aside to implement e-government projects, government must seek variety of funding sources and allocate a special budget.
“NITDA has a good e-government framework but none has been implemented.
“The master plan we are developing will contain suggestions on how e-government projects should be implemented, monitored, evaluated and maintained,” he said.
Park noted that one of the reasons why the implementation of e-government projects had failed in Nigeria was lack of continuity by succeeding governments.
He said when e-government projects were developed by a government, succeeding administration jettison them or sometimes create new ones.
“This trend does not allow for successful implementation of e-government projects and it should be considered when establishing the legal framework on e-government.
“The legal framework to be established should make provisions that require any succeeding government to continue and maintain all e-government projects because the projects take a long time to actualise.
“Government should therefore consider passing an e-government bill into law as soon as possible,” he said.
He said that in the master plan, there were 10 e-government strategies, five policies, a road map on implementation of projects and the duration each project should take.
Park added that the master plan also contained budget implication for the projects and the institutions, agencies and organisations to execute each project.