Public service delivery in Nigeria is characterised by inefficiency. To address this administrative imbalance, various government organisations in Nigeria adopted e-governance to improve performance and service delivery.
The study examined the impact of e-governance on service delivery using Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) South East Nigeria as the case study.
Five states of the South East of Nigeria were studied.
Descriptive research typology was adopted. Focus group discussion, questionnaire and face-to-face interview were the major tools used for data collection. Statistical tools such as frequency tables and correlation coefficient test were used in data analysis and test of hypotheses.
The correlation coefficient test revealed, among others, that e-governance indicators have significant effect on service culture in JAMB. There is also significant relationship between e-governance and service quality in JAMB. In light of these findings, major recommendations were proffered, some of which are that public sector agencies should as a matter of policy develop a positive service culture and set up e-governance implementation committees that will work out modalities for effective implementation of the concept with performance evaluation.
JAMB and other public agencies should avail themselves of the windows of opportunities that e-governance provides.
The use of e-governance among many countries of the world is premised on its perceived capabilities to facilitate efficient service delivery to the public. The primary benefits of e-governance include efficiency and its capabilities to reduce corruption through automation. InfoDev and the Center for Democracy and Technology (
The realisation of the potential of information and communication technology (ICT) and, by extension, e-governance towards empowering the citizenry and improving public service delivery in this digital age led to the formulation of the national policy on information technology in 2001 by the General Olusegun Obasanjo-led Federal Government of Nigeria (Awoleye
The adoption of e-governance in the internal operations of the organisation, however, remains unclear to the public and also has not yet been empirically studied (to the best of the knowledge of the researcher having reviewed the extant literature relevant to the subject matter). This creates a vacuum in knowledge which this study intends to fill.
Public service delivery in Nigeria is characterised by inefficiency (Ibietan
Many other factors have been identified as the immediate and remote causes of the public service inefficiency, which include nepotism, red-tapism and poor monitoring mechanisms. Some authors have identified the structure of government as the primary cause of the inefficiency. This school of thought argued that in a situation where the government is practically centralised as opposed to the federalism provided in the constitution, effective monitoring becomes a task, leading to inefficient service delivery.
Services such as education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation, power, housing and urban development, justice and defence are prerogatives of the government in Nigeria because of its large resources and relatively less developed private sector. Of particular interest in this array of public sector services is education. Education is unarguably the bedrock of any society and quality of human resource is often cited as crucially linked to the development potential of a nation state like Nigeria (Sharif & Abdullah
Traditionally, JAMB had conducted its examinations using the paper-pencil test (PPT) model. This mode of examination is reportedly characterised by inefficiency and inaccuracy (Retnawati
The inefficiency of the JAMB PPT examination was evident in the wide-scale examination mal-practices that often characterised the conduct of the examination in the past (Oyedeji
Although the newly introduced measures reportedly curbed the mass cheating in the examination to some extent (Fleming & Asphind
Apart from cheating, the release of results could take months with candidates waiting. This usually put some candidates’ life plans on hold as they await the ‘verdict’ of JAMB to determine their next courses of action. The waiting of thousands of candidates constitutes economic loss to the nation. The mass cheating and the inefficiency in the JAMB require a paradigm shift in strategies towards repositioning the agency for better performance. To this end, the idea of a combined exam of PPT and CBT was formed. Later, the CBT examination mode was fully adopted by JAMB. This gave birth to the adoption of e-governance (at least e-application element of e-governance) (Gentile et al.
It is important to understand how JAMB’s service delivery has fared in the use of e-governance. For instance, the use of technology by JAMB in interacting with other government agencies like National Youth Service Corps, National University Commission, etc. – otherwise referred to as government to government (G2G) – which is important for efficient service delivery remains unclear. Likewise, the use of technology in its internal workings among employees Government to Employee (G2E) is also not open to the public and has yet to be empirically assessed.
Furthermore, e-governance is often misconstrued as just the presence of government agencies or institutions on a static website online (Gilber et al
The purposes of the study were the following:
To investigate the effect of e-governance on service culture in JAMB.
To examine the relationship between e-governance and service quality in JAMB.
The following research questions were addressed by the study:
To what extent does e-governance have significant effect on the service culture in JAMB?
Is there any relationship between e-governance and service quality in JAMB?
The following hypotheses arose from the discussion of the study:
E-governance has no significant effect on the service culture in JAMB.
E-governance has no significant effect on employee engagement in JAMB.
The extant literature on e-governance shows that there are different meanings and scope of the concept. While some viewed it as a semblance of e-commerce focused on government customers excluding the e-democracy aspect (Clift
Chatfield and Alhujran (
the use of information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical based systems’ to ‘the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees (Alshehri & Drew 1972, Chandler & Emmanuells
According to Sithole and Van der Waldt (
E-governance refers to the usage of information commu-nication technologies for carrying out different public services (Okafor, Fatile & Ejalonibu
A cursory look at the comparative assessment of the e-administration, e-government and e-governance shows that e-governance depicts the maturity stage of electronic service delivery of governments and/or its agencies. The e-governance mirrors a true virtual government where key activities of governance are done electronically. It also appears from the comparison that e-government and e-administration are concerned with putting in place the necessary e-governance while e-governance covers the e-readiness, full e-service delivery as well as continuous improvement on the e-service (see
Traditional versus electronic governments.
Al-Omari (
According to International Review of Law Computer and Technology (2004) public service is described as the direct and indirect services provided by a government to its nationals or residents within a country. Government provides public service directly by engaging in production, distribution or service and indirectly by financing services rendered to the citizenry by third parties. Governments control the resources of the people and are duty-bound to render services that benefit the people albeit in varying degrees. The extent of involvement of government in service delivery to the masses often corresponds to the economic system in use. While the private sector dominates service delivery in a capitalist economic system, the government is the dominant figure in a socialist economy. For a mixed economy like Nigeria, both the private sector and government provide services substantially to the general public. In Nigeria, government constitutes the major service provider through the public service. The public service refers to all organisations that exist as part of government machinery for delivering services that are of value to the citizens.
According to Oronsaye (
Key elements or components of service delivery.
Service culture is considered to be a value creation mode for the company as well as the customer (Ostrom
This led to the discussion by Edvardsson and Enquist (2006 cited in Davis
Along with the training, as pointed out by Lytle and Timmerman (
Antonacopoulou and Kandampully (
Even Edvardsson and Enquist (2006) point out that during big transactions firms need to concentrate on transforming their principal mission of serving their main clients and their in-house culture can fulfil the rest of the requirements. Also the authors emphasise that, although ‘external pressure is important for continuous quality improvement’, it may lead to a fear of change which can prevent service culture transformation (Davis
Kupers (1998) cited in Davis (
Davis and Gautam (
In their study, Ostrom (
recruiting, training and rewarding
developing a service mindset in product-focused organisations
creating a learning service organisation by harnessing employee and customer knowledge
keeping a service focus as the organisation grows and evolves.
Once a superior service delivery system and a realistic service concept have been established, there is no other component so fundamental to the long-term success of a service organisation as its culture (ISS
E-governance has finally arrived in Nigeria and is imbibed by many public organisations to foster service delivery. Events, seminars and conferences are being organised for various public officers of varying categories so as to evolve appropriate e-governance models that will help them work effectively. At the ground level too, a number of steps are being taken to turn the traditional analogue government into a digital government. Government officials in Nigeria are under pressure to perform and innovate in order to make some difference in the quality of administration and delivery of services to the citizens.
In the midst of such hectic activity going around all of us, we, engaged in the academia, government and the industry, all need to ensure that e-education is properly inculcated in examinations in Nigeria.
The subject of e-governance, argue Ezeani (2017) and Fatile (
The application of the new and powerful Internet technology that we can visualise now will vastly change in the years and decades to come, as people in the government and outside give it more freedom to operate. After all, after electricity was invented, it took 40 years to re-organise our workplace. Surely, one day we will realise the vision of one-government, where citizens, government and government to government or any other relationship will merge into a single framework. Data sets will be one, which can be used, transferred and corrected throughout the value chain in a secure environment. For example, tax payers will be required to file a single set of information and all taxation authorities at the central, state and municipal governments would be sharing the database to carry out their own individual functions, under different sets of laws (see
FIGURE 3: Public Sector: Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board; Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
The research design adopted in this study is descriptive survey typology. In the survey, the researcher does not have control of the independent variables because they have already occurred (Stone
Questionnaire, face-to-face interview, observation and focus group discussion were the main tools used in data collection.
The population of the study comprises all JAMB employees, including the individuals in charge of the JAMB ICT resources in the five South Eastern states of Nigeria, with a total number of 110 staff as follows: Abia State Office (17), Anambra State Office (18), Ebonyi State Office (15), Enugu Zonal Office (30), and Imo Zonal Office (30).
As the total workforce of all the JAMB employees in the five South Eastern states of Nigeria is 110, the entire population was studied.
The method of item statistics was used for data analysis (see
Standard deviation statistical analysis.
Item number | Item | Mean | Standard deviation | Remark | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | Use of interactive website to pass and receive information. | 4.0111 | 0.38202 | 90 | Agree |
7 | Investment in Internet backbone and ICT infrastructure development. | 3.7556 | 0.70808 | 90 | Agree |
8 | Use of information technologies (Wide Area Networks, the Internet and mobile computing, etc.) in offices. | 3.5889 | 0.88552 | 90 | Agree |
9 | Availability of knowledgeable, skilled and ICT-compliant staff. | 3.9333 | 0.66704 | 90 | Agree |
10 | Availability of appropriate software for Internet connectivity and e-infrastructure. | 3.7667 | 0.82175 | 90 | Agree |
11 | Existence of appropriate ICT legal and government support. | 3.8222 | 0.64613 | 90 | Agree |
12 | Operational use of ICT in the internal processes and activities (memos/mail distribution, employee salaries and emoluments, staff training, etc. | 3.9000 | 0.65429 | 90 | Agree |
13 | I conduct my affairs in a manner capable of engendering public trust. | 3.9889 | 0.78604 | 90 | Agree |
14 | Corrupt practices and abuse of administrative processes have reduced in the service of JAMB. | 4.0444 | 0.88573 | 90 | Agree |
15 | I am consistent at my duty post until close of work. | 3.5000 | 1.07317 | 90 | Agree |
16 | Workers exhibit courtesy in delivering services. | 4.0889 | 0.51154 | 90 | Agree |
17 | I report for work on time. | 3.3889 | 1.06733 | 90 | Agree |
18 | I see a career path in my present job. | 3.3333 | 1.00560 | 90 | Agree |
19 | I am dedicated to work and emphasise services quality. | 3.5000 | 1.07317 | 90 | Agree |
20 | JAMB application facilities are convenient for customer use. | 4.0778 | 0.56544 | 90 | Agree |
21 | My approaches in attending to the public suggest that I am inclined towards offering people oriented service. | 3.3333 | 1.00560 | 90 | Agree |
22 | My work orders are completed on time. | 3.9111 | 0.64728 | 90 | Agree |
23 | Services are performed according to specifications. | 3.7667 | 0.94868 | 90 | Agree |
24 | I find personal meaning and fulfilment in my work. | 4.0556 | 0.70887 | 90 | Agree |
25 | I am willing to work extra hours to complete a task. | 3.6667 | 1.11174 | 90 | Agree |
26 | It is difficult to detach myself from my work. | 2.3556 | 1.18332 | 90 | Disagree |
27 | I will stay with JAMB even if I am offered a comparable position with greater pay and benefits elsewhere. | 2.3556 | 1.18332 | 90 | Disagree |
28 | My job inspires me to put in my best at work. | 3.8889 | 0.56973 | 90 | Agree |
29 | I am enthusiastic about achieving my personal best at attending to visitors and users of JAMB services. | 3.8889 | 0.77088 | 90 | Agree |
30 | JAMB offers services that can be tailored to my specific needs. | 3.8778 | 0.95785 | 90 | Agree |
31 | I have availability of services round the clock at JAMB. | 3.7111 | 1.04122 | 90 | Agree |
32 | I have ease of getting issues or complaints resolved. | 3.5667 | 1.02825 | 90 | Agree |
33 | JAMB staffs have positive attitude and are knowledgeable in their job. | 3.7778 | 1.03617 | 90 | Agree |
34 | Customer and corporate objectives can be integrated to achieve better service delivery. | 3.9889 | 0.78604 | 90 | Agree |
35 | JAMB is an organisation that puts the consumer first. | 3.7444 | 0.91873 | 90 | Agree |
ICT, information and communication technology; JAMB, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board.
As shown in
Summary of item statistics.
Items | Mean | Minimum | Maximum | Range | Maximum or minimum | Variance | Number of items |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Item means | 3.686 | 2.356 | 4.089 | 1.733 | 1.736 | 0.178 | 30 |
Item variances | 0.774 | 0.146 | 1.400 | 1.254 | 9.595 | 0.125 | 30 |
E-governance is measured through seven question items relating to e-governance (items 6–12) that were included in the questionnaire with a five point Likert scale: disagree (1), strongly disagree (2), not sure (3), agree (4) and strongly agree (5). The average scale of the responses of the respondents represents the rating of e-governance which was used to assess the level of e-governance.
From
For question 7 on investment in Internet backbone and ICT infrastructure development, the weighted mean valve is 3.7556, showing that the respondents agreed that JAMB had invested to acquire Internet backbone and ICT infrastructure development does have other means of sharing information with other government agencies electronically.
For question 8 on the use of information technologies (Wide Area Networks, the Internet and mobile computing, etc.) in offices, the weighted mean value is 3.5889, showing that the respondents agreed that information technologies were being used in JAMB offices.
For question 9 on the availability of knowledgeable, skilled and ICT-compliant staff, the weighted mean valve is 3.9333, showing that the respondents confirm the availability of knowledgeable, skilled and ICT-compliant staff in JAMB.
For question 10 on whether there is availability of appropriate software for Internet connectivity and e-infrastructure, the weighted mean value is 3.7667, showing that the respondents agreed that there is appropriate software for Internet connectivity and e-infrastructure in JAMB.
For question 11 on whether there exists appropriate ICT, legal and government support, the weighted mean value is 3.8222, showing that the respondents agreed that there exists appropriate ICT, legal and government support in the use and development of ICT in JAMB.
For question 12 on whether there exists an operational use of ICT in the internal processes and activities of JAMB, the weighted mean valve is 3.9000, showing that the respondents agreed that there exists an operational use of ICT in the internal processes and activities of JAMB like memos or mail, distribution, employee salaries and emoluments, staff training, etc.
To measure service culture, six question items relating to service culture (items 13–18) were drafted in the questionnaire with a five point Likert scale: disagree (1), strongly disagree (2), not sure (3), agree (4) and strongly agree (5). The average scale of the responses of the respondents represents the rating of service culture which was used to assess the level of service culture.
From
For question 14 on whether corrupt practices and abuse of administrative processes have reduced, the weighted mean value is 4.0444, showing that the respondents agreed that corrupt practices and abuse of administrative processes have reduced in the services of JAMB.
For question 15 on whether respondents are consistent at duty post until closing hour, the weighted mean value is 3.5000, showing that the respondents agreed that they are consistent at their duty post until the close of work.
For question 16 on whether JAMB workers exhibit courtesy in delivering services, the weighted mean value is 4.0889, showing that the respondents agreed that workers exhibit courtesy in delivering services.
For question 17 on whether JAMB workers report to work on time, the weighted mean value is 3.3889, showing that the respondents agreed that they report to work on time.
For question 18 on whether respondents see career path in their job, the weighted mean value is 3.3333, showing that the respondents agreed that they see career path in their job.
To measure service quality, five question items relating to service quality (items 19–23) were included in the questionnaire with a five point Likert scale of disagree (1), strongly disagree (2), not sure (3), agree (4) and strongly agree (5). The average scale of the responses of the respondents represents the rating of service quality which was used to assess the level of service quality.
From
For question 20 on whether JAMB application facilities are convenient for customer use, the weighted mean value is 4.0778, showing that the respondents agreed that JAMB application facilities are convenient for customer use.
For question 21 on whether respondents’ approach of attending to the public is people oriented, the weighted mean value is 3.3333, showing that the respondents agreed that their approaches in attending to the public suggest that they are inclined towards offering people-oriented services.
For question 22 on whether work orders are completed on time, the weighted mean value is 3.9111, showing that the respondents agreed that their work orders are completed on time.
For question 23 on whether services are performed according to specification, the weighted mean value is 3.7667, showing that the respondents agreed that they perform their services according to specification.
For the hypothesis, items 6–11 were used to measure e-governance and items 13–18 were used to measure service culture.
Available data generated from weighted mean.
Serial number | E-governance | Service culture |
---|---|---|
1 | 4.0111 | 3.9889 |
2 | 3.7556 | 4.0444 |
3 | 3.5889 | 3.5000 |
4 | 3.9333 | 4.0889 |
5 | 3.7667 | 3.3889 |
6 | 3.8222 | 3.3333 |
Regression estimates (effect of e-governance on service culture).
Model | Coefficient estimates | Significance | |
---|---|---|---|
(Constant) | 3.947 | 5.626 | 0.000 |
Use of interactive website to pass and receive information | 0.004 | 0.050 | 0.960 |
Investment in Internet backbone and ICT infrastructure development | 0.533 | 4.139 | 0.000 |
Use of information technologies (Wide Area Networks, the Internet and mobile computing, etc.) in offices | 0.361 | 1.722 | 0.088 |
Availability of knowledgeable, skilled and ICT-compliant staff | 0.258 | 2.190 | 0.031 |
Availability of appropriate software for Internet connectivity and e-infrastructure | 0.775 | 4.358 | 0.000 |
Appropriate ICT legal and government support | 0.834 | 10.463 | 0.000 |
Operational use of ICT in the internal processes and activities (memos/mail distribution, employee salaries and emoluments, staff training, etc. | 1.191 | 11.353 | 0.000 |
0.872 | - | - | |
0.863 | - | - | |
99.058 | - | 0.000 |
ICT, information and communication technology.
The estimate of
The
To test this hypothesis, items 6–10 were used to measure e-governance and items 19–23 were used to measure service quality.
Available data generated from weighted mean.
Serial number | E-governance | Service quality |
---|---|---|
1 | 4.0111 | 3.5000 |
2 | 3.7556 | 4.0778 |
3 | 3.5889 | 3.3333 |
4 | 3.9333 | 3.9111 |
5 | 3.7667 | 3.7667 |
Correlations: Relationship between e-governance and service quality.
Expunged | Variables | EG | SQ |
---|---|---|---|
EG | Pearson correlation | 1 | 0.717 |
Sig. (2-tailed) | - | 0.026 | |
5 | 5 | ||
SQ | Pearson correlation | 0.717 | 1 |
Sig. (2-tailed) | 0.026 | ||
5 | 5 |
EG, e-governance; SQ, service quality; Sig., Significance.
The correlation value of 0.717 can be interpreted as strong positive. Then, there exists a strong positive relationship between the variables. The
The findings of this study are as follows:
That e-governance indicators have significant effect on service culture in JAMB. This result invalidated the first null hypothesis of the study, which states that e-governance has no significant effect on service culture in JAMB. The
That there is a significant relationship between e-governance and service quality in JAMB. This finding invalidated the second null hypothesis, which states that there is no significant relationship between e-governance and service quality in JAMB. The correlation value of 0.717 can be interpreted as strong positive. Then there exists a strong positive relationship between the variables. The
From the findings of the study, the researchers recommend the following:
That JAMB should organise training from time to time for its workers to train them on emerging trends in e-governance.
The organisation should procure more ICT equipment across all JAMB zonal offices across the federation.
Awareness should be created in higher schools on this trending technological innovations to ensure that students sitting for University Matriculation Tertiary Examination (UMTE) understand the concept of e-governance.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
O.C. collected data and did data analysis, E.E.O.C. moderated and edited the work and made some useful additions, while C.O. worked on the methodology, findings and conclusion.