A South Korean ICT
Expert, Mr Kuk Jeong, on Friday, in Seoul said “Africa needs adequate and
stable electricity supply to successfully develop and implement e-Government
and to fight corruption.
Jeong, a Senior Research
Fellow with the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI), stated
this at a Stakeholders’ Workshop and Instructors Training on capacity
development of e-government for Nigerian civil servants.
A total of 30 Nigerian
civil servants are currently undergoing a three-week capacity training in
e-government in South Korea.
He said Africa needed to
have ‘electric government’ before it could truly build electronic government,
adding that the major challenge facing developing countries was inadequate
supply of electricity.
“Internet technology needs
to be preceded by electricity. Economic growth depends on continued reform in
developing countries. Corruption has cost developing countries’ to loss tens of
billion dollars annually. It is now acknowledged that e-government has great
potential for government reforms in Africa. It needs this because it alleviates
an administrative burden and helps to deal with fraud and corruption. It is a
quick way for governments with limited infrastructure to catch up with the rest
of the world in deployment of services.’’
Jeong said with
e-government, there would be efficiency, transparency and the potential for
easier interaction between governments and citizens, as well as essential for
economic growth.
He said “once African
countries have constant power supply like the developed nations, it will bring
about good governance, boost economy and free societies on the continent.
“People focus on doing
business the way they know, with lots of requirements and paperwork, but
e-government is about convenience and doing business as fast as possible.’’
The expert said African
governments required to push e-government and to streamline processes for its
development and implementation in their various countries.
“The use of ICT and the
support of new ways of thinking and working in public administration with the
enhanced provision of information and interactive services accessible over
different channels is the foundation of e-government.’’
He said “e-government
brings about greater government accountability, easy to access information,
convenient services, quick response to requests, fast delivery of services, as
well as data security and confidentiality.’’
Jeong also urged African
leaders to prioritize capacity building programme for ICT to bring about
information revolution in Africa. (NAN)
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