Political systems are made up of sets of activities and relationships concerned with power and exercise. A polity is a political system that is focused on some geographical areas in the modern world. Generally speaking polity consists of a structure of government executives, judiciaries and legislatives. Legislation is the major instrument of government processes. Government establishment works within a political environment of legal regulation.
In recent times it has become popular to speak of the information society, thus identifying the meeting point between government and, information and communication technology. The objectives of this marriage are mainly to improve efficiency, effectiveness and cut costs.
The emergence of this phenomenon has raised new stakes in the process of regulation and security. A fundamental problem exists in that most legislation is enacted by national governments, whereas the idea of electronic transaction is a global phenomenon.
Let’s try to describe e-governance, the relevant ICT issues, the technical, social and legal requirements for proper implementation of e-government and its feasibility in Nigeria.
E-governance is more than just a government presence on the Internet. Imagine a situation in which all transactions with the government can be done through one desk, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without waiting in lines at government offices. This can be made possible if government is willing to decentralize responsibilities and processes and they start to use electronic means such as the internet. This will enable citizens to make contact with the government through a web-sit where all forms, legislation, news and other information will be available round the clock.
In Europe and the USA, commercial banks already work according to this concept. Only in a few very special situations one has to go to a physical office. Most transactions can be done on-line. This has saved the banks an enormous amount of costs.
Government, as a collector and source of information, may also follow this trend, in order to serve its customers (Citizens, business, and other interest groups) better and to save cost by making internet operations more efficient. E-government serves as a mechanism to improve government’s efficiency through transparency, openness and increasing interactions across governments, citizens and the civil society organizations.
The basic objectives of e-government are to provide citizens access to information and knowledge about the political process, public needs, services and available choices; and to make possible the transaction from passive information access to active citizens’ participation in government.
There are three main target groups that can be distinguished in e-governance concepts are government, citizen and businesses/interest groups. Government objectives can be internally or externally focused. The external strategic objectives focus on citizens, businesses and interest groups while the internal objective focus on government itself. Abbreviations such as B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to customer) are used, like in e-commerce, to shortly describe which of the main groups are interacting. The most common group interactions in e-governance are Government to Consumers G2C, Government to Business G2B and Government to Government G2G.
Gartner, an international e-business research consultancy firm, formulated a four-phase e-governance model to measure the progression of e-government and identified strategy and other factors contributing to a country’s success in each phase. The model suggested the four critical phases of e-government evolution, which include the web presence, interactions, transactions and transformation.
The model does not mean that all establishments have to go through all phases and all at the same time. On the contrary, in the Western world government institutions are in phase 1, 2 or 3. The difference can be much: the revenue collection department can be in phase 3, while the department of the public works is just in an early state of phase 1. It all depends on where the advantages are highest. In the Gartner model, an assumption is made that the government has already defined an overall vision and e-policy.
According to S. O. Asakpa, department of Computer Science, Federal Polytechnic, Offa, ‘e-governance at the first phase means having presence on the web, providing the external public (G2C and G2B) with relevant information. The value of the pubic is that government information is publicly accessible; processes described and thus become more transparent, which improves democracy and service. Internally, the government can also disseminate information with static electronic means, such as the intranet’.
In the second phase, he said is the interaction between government and the public (G2C and G2B) is stimulated with various applications. People can ask questions via e-mail, use search engines for information and are able to download all sorts of forms and documents. These functionalities save time. “In fact, the complete intake of simple applications can be done online anytime, any day. Normally this would have only been possible at an office during official hours.
Internally (G2G) government organizations use local area networks (LAN), intranets and e-mail to communicate and exchange data. The bottom line is that efficiency and effectiveness is achieved because a large part of the intake process is done on line. However, you still have to go to the office to finalize the transaction, by paying the fee, handing over evidence or signing paper,” he said.
With phase three the complexity of the technology is increasing, but customer (G2C and G2B) value will also be higher. Complete transactions can be done without going to an office. Examples of online service are filling income tax, filling property tax, extending/renewal of licenses, visa and passports and online voting. Phase three is mainly complex because of security and personalization issues- for example, digital (electronic) signatures are necessary to enable legal transfer of services. In this phase, internal (G2G) processes have to be redesigned to provide good services. Government needs to create new laws and legislation that will enable paperless transactions with legal certification. The bottom line here is that the complete process is online, including payments, digital signatures among others. This saves time, paper and money.
The fourth phase is the phase in which all information systems are integrated and the public can get G2C and G2B services at one (virtual) desk. One single point of contact for all services is the ultimate goal. The complex aspect in reaching this goal is mainly on the internal side, for example, the necessity to drastically change culture, processes and responsibilities within the government institution (G2G). Government employees in different departments have to work together in a smooth and seamless way. In this phase cost savings, efficiency and customer satisfaction reaches highest possible levels.
Precondition for e-government
Seamless communication, information flow and data management are the essential ingredient of an effective e-government structure. However there are a number of challenges that can hamper the effective take up and implementation of e-governance. These barriers include lack of information and communications technology resources and infrastructures, unequal access to technology (resulting into ‘digital divide’), low literacy rate, corruption and lack of government policy initiatives.
Many a times, the lack of resources and technology is compounded by a lack of access to expertise and information. A strong political will and commitment, reflected in a country’s political and legal structures, are in the core of combating these barriers and achieving success. The presence of a will-orchestrated ICT acts and other necessary foundation and benchmark in this regard and facilitate the smooth functioning of a country’s ICT sector.
Policy for e-Government
In order for the government to achieve her e-governance goals and objectives, there is the need to formulate an ICT policy that encompasses all sector of governance. This would enable the government to establish a better relationship and transparency with the various stakeholders – government, citizens and business/interest groups/NGOs.
The need for a national information Technology (IT) policy in Nigeria became more pronounce after the participation of the Nigerian delegation to the first African Development Forum on the ‘Challenge to Age’ held in Addis Ababa in October 1999. As a result, a national workshop on the National Information and Communication Infrastructure was held in Abuja in March 2000.This orchestrates into the National Policy for Information Technology tagged ‘Use IT’, with the aim of ‘building an IT-driven nation comprising of knowledge –based society by the year 2005’ Though the policy is in place but the citizens are yet to fully enjoy its implementation. This policy covers almost all objectives and implementation strategies in place. 
More so, there are a number of social preconditions exist for the successful uptake of electronic delivery of government services and products: These among others include, awareness: stakeholders must be aware of the benefits of using various remote access mechanisms. Such benefits must outweigh the costs of using electronic delivery in people’s minds.
Having access to remote access devices from their homes or some other convenient location is another important precondition. Measures of such access are frequently expressed in terms of forms of connectivity to the internet. Access can be determined by a whole number of factors, particularly income.
Use of various access mechanisms must approach a threshold that encourages the provision of more content and services delivered electronically. The hope for many organizations is that a virtuous cycle is established in which better content and services, perhaps directed at particular social, economic or political groups, will encourage greater awareness, or interest in and use, of remote access mechanisms.