Low accountability on the part of elected public officials has long been a major issue for Nigerians in terms of governance. Members of civil society and non-governmental organizations have raised their concerns about the issue on various occasions, as well as carried out programmes that made Nigerians aware of their duties. Some of the projects focused primarily on civic technology products and services, allowing Nigerians to track government projects and criticize specific parts of project delivery. In certain cases, the products and services produced predicted effects, particularly when considering how they were accepted and used by Nigerians.
Our analyst notes that, while civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) performed their expected roles, government has also embraced the idea of creating strong relationships with Nigerians through the use of technology. However, given the level of distrust, government-inclined technologies are rarely welcomed and employed as intended. This mostly explained the reason for constant introduction and changes in government accountability focused technological products and services.
For example, in 2022, when launching the Presidential Project Delivery Tracker, Mr. Boss Mustapha, former Secretary of the Federal Government, emphasized the importance of citizens understanding their rights and obligations, demanding quality services, and promoting accountability and transparency. According to him, the policy Tracker serves as a framework for the institutionalisation of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) practices to promote good governance, learning, and accountability for results that will contribute to Nigeria’s socioeconomic development and citizens’ well-being.
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Like the previous presidents, who usually echoed the need for accountability and transparency in governance, on November 3, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the reactivation of the Presidential Delivery Tracker to empower Nigerians to track the implementation of projects across the country in real time. Less than five months later, Mrs. Hadiza Bala Usman, on behalf of the government, launched an Internet-enabled and mobile application performance tracker. According to her, the tracker offered citizens the opportunity to give real-time feedback on their assessment of policies, projects, and programmes of government from anywhere they are in the country.
While the use of technology in government and citizen interactions is not new in Nigeria, our analyst’s observations of the trends of activities leading to the creation of the Tracker give citizens hope that the government is implementing a technology of government framework that has been in place in the Global North for some time. The Tracker’s availability on two platforms—app.cdcu.gov.ng and the Google Play Store—says more about how willing the government is at the moment to accept and permit the integration of governmentality into governance in the direction of efficient accountability and transparency.
With the tracker, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is seriously considering the fusion of government and mentality, with the goal of actively leading through Nigerians and his cabinet members’ mentalities (worldview). The tracker, according to the government and several technology experts who have evaluated it, provides citizens the ability to view the key programmes and projects of the Federal Government on their devices. On this premise, our analyst concludes that the government is gathering citizens’ knowledge and resources and concentrating them where they are most required to ensure the self-governance of cabinet members and the President himself.
The tracker, as reported in the media, signifies President Tinubu’s strategic tool that empowers Nigerians to hold him accountable. He launches the project tracker after signing performance bonds with ministers. In this context, our analyst notes that President Tinubu exercises his power and authority over the ministers and other appointed officials so that he can be accountable and transparent to Nigerians in line with his campaign promises and priority areas.
Having features that help Nigerians access detailed information on government priority projects and programmes nationwide and provide feedback as well as observations indicates a sense of shared responsibility. In other words, President Tinubu wants citizens and critical stakeholders to know that government internal knowledge, procedures, strategies, and tactics are not enough for effective governance and ensuring accountability as well as transparency on the part of the cabinet members. In a nutshell, President Tinubu has reorganized and redistributed his power and authority to Nigerians towards effective governance.
Already, Nigerians have started using the Tracker to express their dissatisfaction with the government’s recent efforts on the Lagos 3rd Mainland Bridge and the Ibadan-Ife-llesa Expressway. Some people appreciate the work done by Hon Minister Umahi and his team, while others are dissatisfied with the Minister of Power, Adelabu Adebayo, who calls him the worst minister so far. Others have urged the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, to have a monthly training program for teachers, stating that they should not let technical teachers teach the 1970s or 80s definition of new technology.
On the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, some people suggest that the minister should partner with mainstream media to promote national cohesion and leverage social media to relate with citizens. According to our analyst, the speed with which Nigerians used the Tracker and shared their views demonstrates that technology can help sustain a government framework for accountability and transparency.