By 
Highlights of assessment of MDAs websites by NITDA
- Most of the websites by MDAs not in conformity with published standards and guidelines for government websites.
- Most of the websites do not have feedback and information necessary to facilitate ease of doing business.
- Only 25% and 37% of the websites have reachable phone numbers and email addresses
- Some websites do not have complete list of website links to the agencies under their supervision
- Many websites are hardly updated; contents are outdated
Destination Nigeria! NITDA to ensure public sector compliance to presidential order on ease of doing business as it relates to the use of ICT for efficiency.
Most websites of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are not in conformity with published standards and guidelines for government websites; and do not meet the basic requirements for transparency and promotion of ease of business, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has declared after it recently conducted a business friendly assessment of the websites of federal MDAs.
NITDA, the IT clearinghouse for government, said the exercise was conducted as an initial step to e-readiness and compliance with the Executive Order signed by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment designed to facilitate the ease of doing business in Nigeria as it relates to the use of ICT for efficiency service delivery.
“The assessment revealed that most of the websites are not in conformity with published standards and guidelines for government websites. Most of the websites do not have feedback and information necessary to facilitate ease of doing business. For instance, only 25% and 37% of the websites have reachable phone numbers and email addresses respectively. In addition, some of the websites do not have complete list of website links of the Agencies under their supervision and the content outdated,” said am official statement by the NITDA in Abuja signed by its Director General/CEO, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
“We therefore call on MDAs and other stakeholders in the IT sector to support the Agency in ensuring compliance to the standards and guidelines for government websites as this will assist in facilitating ease of doing business and e-governance adoption and penetration for effective, transparent, accessible, and responsive service delivery,” said NITDA’s Dr Pantami.
According to agency’s findings, “some ministries either have no active websites or are not registered on .GOV.NG. Businesses and citizens expect more transparent, accessible, and responsive services from government agencies and it is essential that Federal Ministries take the lead in ensuring that information provided on their websites meets such expectations.
“We therefore call on federal ministries, especially those affected, to ensure that on their websites:
- contact information are accurate and reachable and means of interaction such as online feedback are integrated;
- the content and the list of website links of the Agencies under their supervision are complete and up-to-date; and
- detailed requirements or conditions for service provision and electronic mode of communicating acceptance and rejection of applications as stated in the executive order are conspicuously published.
“Furthermore, government agencies at all levels (federal, state and local government) are required to use the .GOV.NG zone in line with Nigerian content in ICT promotion. The .GOV.NG zone is Nigerian Government identity on the Internet.
“Recently, NITDA management has put in place more efficient and effective measures to improve service delivery of the .GOV.NG management and administration and quick turnaround has been achieved. Requests for domain registration and other support services are attended to within 24hrs if all the requirements are provided. Further information on these requirements can be obtained by sending requests to [email protected].
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications. The agency was created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and co-ordinate general IT development and regulation in the country. Specifically, Section 6(m) of the Act mandates NITDA to advise Federal Government generally on matters and issues as well as ensure Internet governance and supervision of the management of the country code top-level domain (cctld.ng).
