E-Governance and Digitalization on Public Administration in New Towns Development Authority, Lagos State

E-Governance and Digitalization on Public Administration in New Towns Development Authority, Lagos State

Chapter One

Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to examine the impact of e-Governance and Digitalization using JAMB as the case study. The specific objectives are to:

1. Determine the effect of e-Governance on service culture in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
2. Examine the relationship between e-Governance and service quality in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
3. Investigate the effect of e-Governance on employee engagement in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
4. Explore the relationship between e-Governance and customer experience in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

According to C. Selltiz in his book ―Research Methods in Social Relations‖ ―one of the simplest ways of economizing effort in an inquiry is to review and build upon the work already done by others‖. The rationale behind this assertions lies in the fact that reviewing works done by others will give the researcher a clear direction on how to approach his research work so as to achieve maximum result. These works already done by others include books, journal, newspaper articles and official documents relevant to the study.

Conceptual framework

E-Governance

The extant literature on e-governance shows that there are different meanings and scope of the concept. While some viewed it as being a semblance of e-commerce focused on government customers excluding the e-democracy aspect(Clift, 2003), others construed it as a virtual reality with interface that provides medium for governance in a multidimensional form (Torres, Pina, & Royo, 2005). Many others have different or related meaning for the concept.

Chatfield & Alhujran, (2009) defined e-Governance as the ―rapidly emerging global phenomenon of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) as the new way forward in public administration‖. Naz (2009) defined it as ―the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the government processes to bring Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) governance‖. Basu, (2004) viewed e-governance (e-Government) as; ―the use of information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical based systems‘ to ‗the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees‖.

According to Sithole & Vander Waldt (2016), E-governance, which also means electronic governance generally, refers to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in order to provide different government services. It enables the exchange of different kinds of communication besides ensuring effective communication of different kinds of transactions. At the same time, it enables the integration of different stand-alone systems and services between the government and the customers and government and businesses (Karim, 2002).

E-governance refers to the usage of information communication technologies for carrying out different public services (Okafor, Fatile & Ejalonibu, 2014). This mainly refers to the application of the internet so as to make sure that different kinds of services are offered in a manner that is convenient, cost effective and customer oriented. E-governance also refers to the adoption of IT for enhancing working of the government. It is mainly aimed at the achievement of moral, simple, responsive, accountable and transparent governance (Abasilim & Edet, 2015; Okafor, Fatile & Ejalonibu, 2014). According to Karim (2015), E-governance is a major tool, which is being adopted in order to ensure that there is a highly effective and efficient Digitalization. thereby ensuring effective and efficiency Digitalization.

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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section aims at proving information on the technique and procedure for the collection and analysis of the data used in this study. Also it will highlight the type of data used in the research and their sources.

The section further provides useful insight on how the sample size was selected, where the researcher used as the study area and those that make up the simple size.

Research Design

The Research Design chosen in the study is a combination of the survey and oral interview. In the survey, the Researcher does not have the control of the independent variables because they have already occurred [stone, 2006]. If it is possible for the Researcher to have experimental and control groups, the appropriate Research Design would have been an experiment and not a survey [Podsakoff and Dalton, 1987]. In the oral interview, the research questions are asked as open-ended questions.

Sources of Data

It is very important that the researcher takes proper care of the sources of data, in view of the fact that it reflects on the final result of the work. However, if the data is faulty, certainly the result will be faulty (Osuala, 1991).

Therefore, in undertaking the research two kinds of data are needed, that is primary and secondary data. The nature of each of the two types of data is discussed briefly below.

Primary Data

The primary data for this study was obtained through a structured questionnaire. In addition, oral interviews may be conducted where necessary in order to complement the information that would be derived from the questionnaire. The aim is to give respondents the opportunity of supplying that information they may not give in the structured questionnaire.

Secondary Data

For this study, the secondary data sources can be summarized to include:

Study of relevant information contained in textbooks, newspapers, magazines, seminar paper, journals, periodicals, management and panel reports and more importantly the internet that gave the access to information in the world in general.

Population of the Study

The population of study is the entire JAMB employees, including the individuals in charge of the JAMB ICT resources in the five South- Eastern states of Nigeria with a total number of 110 staff. The staff strength distribution is represented below:

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

This chapter presents the data used in examining E-governance and Digitalization: A Study of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the south- East, Nigeria. It also presents analyses and interprets the data obtained through the administration of questionnaire to all staff of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the south- East, Nigeria.

The researcher distributed a total of one hundred (100) questionnaires of thirty five (35) items each to all staff of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the south- East, Nigeria. As a result of frequent persuasion on the importance of responding fully and honestly to the questionnaire, the researcher was able to achieve questionnaire return of ninety (90) responses while twenty (20) were not returned out of the total distributed. Leaving a total of ninety (90) usable questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 90percent. The researcher proceeded with the analysis of the data as 90percent response rate is regarded as very satisfactory for this study. According to Babbie and Mouton (2001), some rules of thumb about the return/response rate is that a response rate of 50percent is adequate for analysis and reporting, 60percent is good while 70percent is very good.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter covers the summary of finding, conclusions and recommendations of this study. It also indicates some areas that still need further research and makes recommendations for policy makers to adjust, change and adopt E-governance initiatives that may help the Digitalization minimize or reduce red-tape, and bring efficiency in serving citizens.

Summary of Findings

This work has succeeded in evaluating E-governance and Digitalization: A Study of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the South East Nigeria. The study among other things reviewed related literatures as well as review of prior studies. The study further collected and analyzed data to come out with the following findings:

1. That E-governance indicators have significant effect on service culture in JAMB. This result invalidated the first null hypothesis of the study which states that E- governancehas no significant effect on service culture in  The F ratio of 99.058 from the regression analysis was found to be significant at 0.000 levels. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected; thereby leading to the conclusion that e-Governance has significant relationship with employee engagement in Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

2. That there is a significant relationship between E-governance and service qualityin JAMB. This finding invalidated the second null hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between E-governance and service quality in JAMB. The correlation value of 0.717 can be interpreted as strong positive. Then, there exists strong positive relationship between the  The P-value of 0.026 shows the existence of enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that e-Governance has significant relationship with the service quality delivered by joint Admission and Matriculation Board.
3. That E-governance indicators have significant effect on employee engagement in JAMB. This result invalidated the third null hypothesis of the study which states that E-governance has no significant effect on employee engagement in JAMB. TheF ratio of 366 from the regression analysis was found to be significant at 0.000 levels. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected and we concluded that e- Governance has significant relationship with the employee engagement.

4. That there is a significant relationship between E-governance and customer experience in JAMB. It also invalidates the fourth null hypothesis of the study which states that there is no significant relationship between E-governance and customer experience in JAMB. The correlation value of 0.569 can be interpretedas strong positive. Then, there exists strong positive relationship between the variables. The P-value of 0.039 shows the existence of enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that e-Governance has significant relationship with customers‘ experience.

Conclusion

The main aim of the study is to examine the impact of E-governance on Digitalization using the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as the case study. The research was guided by four research questions and hypotheses. From the research findings, this study reveals a diverse aspect of e-Governance which is referred to the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in government to run governmental activities including Digitalization. It argues that well established e-Governance has positive implications on service delivery in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

In review of relevant empirical literature and the subsequent testing of the four stated hypotheses, we came to the conclusion that e-Governance has a significant effect on service culture in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Secondly, that there is a significant relationship between e-Governance and services quality in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Thirdly, that e-Governance has a significant effect on employee engagement in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The fourth hypothesis also discovered that there is a significant relationship between e-Governance on employee commitment in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

This study argues that e-governance remain the best in encouraging effective service delivery that will lead to transparency and accountability in government businesses and operations for Nigeria‘s public service. The study is premised on the Andersen, Henriksen‘s Public Sector Process Rebuilding (PPR) maturity model of e-government.

Andersen, Henriksen (2006) proposed the (Public Sector Process Rebuilding (PPR) Model) which was an extension of the Layne and Lee Model four stages (Catalogue, Transaction, Vertical integration and Horizontal integration). The major difference between the Layne and Lee model and the Public Sector Process Rebuilding (PPR) model is that, the latter talks more of customer centric approach rather than the technological capability.

The study also reveals that E-Governance is the application of electronic means in the interaction between government and citizens, government and businesses, as well as internal government operations to simplify and improve democratic government and business aspects of governance (Backus, 2003). While e-government is simply about the transformation, delivering services effectively and seamlessly, developing new forms of communication between government and the governed, and enhancing quality of lives through economic development and enhancing civil society (Worrall, 2011). In the words of Ayo  (2014),  e-government  is  about  ―increasing  transparency,  sharpening accountability, increased scrutiny, taking out hierarchies, changing working practices, changing cultures, changing behaviours and about radically changing power structure by making power more diffused and less concentrated among a small political and administrative elite.‖

This study revealed that an efficient Service delivery is the objectives of all public organization, but that the major causes of poor service delivery in public service are: political manipulation, corruption and lack of accountability and transparency, inadequate citizen participation, poor human resource policy, failure to manage change, lack of employee capacity, poor planning, and poor monitoring and evaluation etc. By implication however, the e-governance implementation in the Nigerian public service in general and JAMB in particular, is accompanied with many challenges.

Recommendations

In view of the findings of this study, it is imperative at this juncture to suggest what can be done to achieve a more successful implementation of e-governance in Nigeria‘s public service in general and JAMB in particular. Based on the issues identified as some of the major challenges to e-governance implementation in Nigeria‘s public service in general and JAMB in particular, the following recommendations are advanced:

1. The importance of e-governance in the achievement of positive service culture cannot be over  Therefore, public sector agencies should as a matter of policy, develop a positive service culture and set up e-governance implementation committees who will work out modalities for effective implementation of the concept, with performance evaluation units, establish to evaluate the successes and failures in its targets as well as feedback mechanism to report implementation effectiveness. The Federal Government of Nigeria should establish Ministry of ICT Affairs to set up ICT implementation framework evaluation units in each of the Ministries and Parastatals, with the Permanent Secretaries as the head.
2. The ICT Ministry will liaise with the implementation committees at various ministries including state ministries to evaluate performance as well as feedback to help in its effectiveness. The government should also enact ICT laws that will make computer literacy a compulsory aspect for every public or civil servant both at the local, state and federal levels. The policy should also include creation of ICT awareness with computer literacy programmes among public servants. With the above done, the challenges will be reduced to a mere insignificant level as well as putting the country into the world map of e-governance high ranking list. The implementation of e-governance should be a must to all public service institutions as well.

2. JAMB in particular and public sector organizations in general should avail themselves the windows of opportunities that e-governance provides in their drive to enhance service quality by showing a high level of e-readiness in their operations. All that is needed must be put in place by the government, especially that which is within their capacity. For instance, ensure that all office is equipped with functional computers, employ highly skilled personnel in ICT, provision of continuous training of the personnel to keep them informed on how best to utilize e-governance in engendering effective service delivery among others.
3. Also, for improved service delivery in Nigeria‘s public service in general and JAMB in particular, the government must provide the necessaryinfrastructure that will aid the successful implementation of e-governance in Nigeria‘s public  For instance, robust broadband services, required internet network and the availability of power supply, which has been identified as one of the major challenges to e-governance implementation in the public service has to be taken care of. This means that the success of e-governance implementation in the public service is tied to the availability of power supply and in this case electricity. Government offices must also be internet connected with trained and qualified staff. Another factor to be considered is the Human element. This is important because no technology can drive itself, it is the human element that will drive the technology so their willingness is critical to whether e-governance implementation in Nigeria‘s public service will succeed or not, and this is because they have the capacity to truncate whatever innovation and benefits e-governance promises to bring to bear. So on this note, government needs to carefully address the issue of human factor which often manifest in resistance to change, nonchalant attitudes and the likes which is responsible for underutilization of most of the ICT facilities put in place by government especially in offices or departments that tends to embrace e-governance in their operations, thereby sabotaging the good effort of the government.
4. Based on the findings and conclusions, we recommend that a reliable and strategic framework for e-governance operation is necessary. Government‘s Ministries, Departments and Agencies should set up e-governance implementationcommittees that will work out modalities for effective implementation, alongside the performance evaluation units established to assess the successes and failures in its targets as well as feedback mechanism to report implementation effectiveness. Additionally, there is the need for the government to come up with a regulatory policy, especially on the framework through legislation of e-governance and other ICT-related issues as it pertains to the operations strategies among the tiers of government. By so doing, the public service will be aware on the areas that need to be worked on, in order to actualize effective implementation of e-governance in Nigeria‘s public service in general and JAMB in particular.

The Nigeria government should also enact Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laws that will make computer literacy a compulsory aspect for every public or civil servant both at the local, state and federal levels. Such policies should also involve the adoption of effective ICT awareness with computer-related literacy training programmes introduced in our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. With this implemented, the challenges will be reduced as well as putting the country into the world map of ICT/e-governance high ranking list.

Contribution to Knowledge

The research extensively dealt with the concept of E- governance and Digitalization as it concerns a developing country like Nigeria by opening a discussion on the role E- governance plays on Digitalization. This study has added to the efforts of researchers‘ world over to understand the association between E- governance and Digitalization. The study investigated and statistically established:

1. a significant effect of E- governance on Service
2. a significant relationship between E- governance and Service Quality
3. a significant relationship between E- governance and Customer Experience
4. a significant effect of E- governance on Employee Engagement

Suggestions for Further Studies

This study focused on investigating E-governance and Digitalization: A study of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in the south-East, Nigeria. In the course of the research on this topic, the researcher found need for further research into the following areas:

1. The challenges of e-governance implementation process in the government
2. The processes of e-governance implementation in non-governmental/ private organizations in Nigeria.
3. Legal frameworks for implementation of e-governance in Nigeria
4. Comparative studies of e-governance implementation process in public sector between Nigeria and developed countries.

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