The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has said that contrary to the intent of the Federal Government Executive Order (001) on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, less than 30 percent of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have functional websites and less than 25 percent have functional telephone numbers and e-mail.
The acting Director General of the bureau Dasuki Arabi said this yesterday in Abuja at the first edition of the BPSR Lunch Time Reform Seminar organised by the organisation, Right to Know (R2K), MacArthur and DFID among others, themed: “Using ICT within the Public Service in the Ease of doing Business to Enhance Public Access to Information”.
“This shortcoming has not only created a huge gap and constraint to doing business in Nigeria, but is also responsible for the country being ranked number 169 out of the 190 economies in the world. In line with global best practices, institutional websites provide the means through which relevant information for starting business process could be obtained.
“It is also requisite where information concerning the activities of government organisation could easily be accessed. It is noteworthy to inform you that the Federal Government has adopted the scorecard in a letter dated 10 December 2017 which would serve as peer review mechanism among the MDAs to boost compliance to standards for government website and improve operationalization of the Executive Order E001 on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria,” Arabi said.
The Coordinator of the R2K Nigeria Mrs Ene Nwankpa said the importance of open government cannot be over emphasized as can be seen in the recent gains recorded by Nigeria at home and abroad due to availability of information and transparency in governance.
The Special Assistant to the President on Industry Trade and Investment and Secretary to the Presidential Enabling Business Economic Council (PEBEC) Dr Olajumoke Omoniyi Oduwole, who was represented by Mr Ayotokunnu Ojeniyi said the activities of the organisation has led to Nigeria’s rise from 169 to 145 in global ranking of 180 countries and that this is expected to improve subsequently.
