Experts seek e-governance to check graft

Information communication technology (ICT) experts have urged the adoption of electronic or e-government at all levels to prevent the stealing of public funds.
Speaking during a two-day E-Government Summit 2015 held in Abuja, the said government officials should not be allowed to deal with physical cash.


The conference, which ended yesterday and brought together experts from different sectors of the economy cutting across financial services, ICT, agriculture, among others, was organised by the E-Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN), in collaboration with the Financial Services Strategy (FSS) 2020 and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).


Speaking on the occasion, Anambra State Governor, Dr. Willie Obiano, said the adoption of e-government in Anambra, especially in the area of tax collection has raised the state’s Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) from less than N1 billion to its current N1.1 billion monthly with the ultimate objective to increase it  to N3 billion monthly.


“In Anambra, our aggressive pursuit of a vision and mission strategies through an efficient use of ICT has attracted an inflow of investment to the tune of N2.4 billion to Anambra State in the past one year."


“The whole idea is to use government machinery to channel private sector interest to the advantages of the citizens by making the environment conductive through efficient use of ICT to achieve this.”


Deputy Governor, Operations at CBN, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, said the introduction of electronic transaction policies by the apex bank was meant to ensure efficiency in financial transactions and curb financial corruption in the system.


He said while the federal government and its paratstatals have also embraced a number of ICT-related initiatives in recent past in their services, with resultant cost-saving and ability to plug the leakages in its financial dealings, “there is an urgent need to popularize wider and holistic embrace of e-government in its totality.”


He noted that with the passage of three major bills relating to electronic transactions in Nigeria by the sixth National Assembly, the coast is now clear for e-payment landscape in the country to exhibit increased sanity.


To read more, Experts seek e-governance to check graft


Taken from BIZTECH AFRICA