Nigeria Ranks 143 in e-Government Index

• Nigeria Ranks 143 in e-Government Index

Although Nigeria slipped two places in global e-Government development index to rank 143 out of 193, the Federal Government said it planned to lift the nation to the 50th position.

The e-Government index measures the readiness of the members of the United Nations to offer services electronically. There are three important dimensions of the index, namely provision of online services, telecommunications connectivity and human capacity.

In the recently released Nigeria e-Government Master Plan, the Federal Government said it planned to leapfrog South Africa currently occupying 68th position in the global ranking as it targets 50th position globally.

The report said, “Nigeria improved in its world e-Government development ranking from 162 in 2012 to 141 in 2014 and now slipped two spaces in 2016 and unchanged in 2018 to 143 according to UN e-Government Development Index.

“Nigerian e-Government development score increased from 0.2676 in 2012 to 0.2929 in 2014, 0.3291 in 2016, and up to 0.3807 in 2018.

“This slip occurred despite slight improvements in overall EDGI ranking in 2016 and 2018 mainly because of stronger showings from other countries within the same period.”

African countries higher than Nigeria in the EDGI ranking include South Africa at 68th position, Ghana at 101st position and Rwanda at 120th position.

The report said, “Nigeria targets a jump from the present position of 143rd to 50th globally, leapfrogging South Africa at 68th. It means significant improvement which requires a lot of funding and shared vision.”

The report also examined the country’s e-Participation index which focuses on the use of online services to facilitate the provision of information by governments to citizens, interaction with stakeholders and engagement in decision-making processes.