E-governance: An imperative for sustainable grass root development in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper aims to put forward the importance of e-governance in achieving sustainable grassroots development in Nigeria. The emergence of information communication technology has provided opportunity for borderlessness, interconnectedness and de-territorialization of government policies and programmes within the global village. Information communication technology is a necessary political tool set out to reconcile traditional barrier of distance in the management of public affairs. Today, E-governance has being implemented in Europe and other westernized countries for sustainable development through the application and adoption of Open Access Information Communication Technology (OAICT) designed to enhance social service delivery at the grassroots level. This paper adopts secondary sources of data. It argues that e-governance promotes participatory, transparent, responsive and inclusive democracy to enhance grassroots development. The accessibility of local citizens to their elected representatives and basic social services through the provision of information communication technology enhances effective communication between the government and the governed at the grassroots level, while it creates open plain ground for the citizens to receive feedbacks from the appropriate local government channel. This study concludes that e-governance ensures effective and efficient service delivery and enhancing citizen’s participation in local affairs. It therefore recommends that federal government should make policy that will facilitate and fast-track the adoption of ICT and training of local government personnel in the art of e-governance through which sustainable grassroots development could be accomplished in Nigeria. Key words: E-governance, e-government, information communication technology, grassroot development, local government, democracy, Nigeria.