MDAs blocking ease of doing business with poor online presence – NITDA

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Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim, Director General of NITDA

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has blamed government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for preventing ease of doing business in the country with their poor online presence.

The agency found most of the MDAs wanting after carrying out an Executive Order signed by the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osibajo, on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment designed to facilitate the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Specifically, NITDA conducted a  business friendly assessment of the websites of Federal Ministries for  efficient service delivery with the information communication technology (ICT) channel as it connect them to the rest of the world.

The assessment revealed that most of the websites are not in conformity with published standards and guidelines for government websites, the agency stated on Monday.

According to the NITDA Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Isa  Ali Ibrahim Pantami, most of the websites do not have feedback and information necessary to facilitate ease of doing business.

“For instance”, he cited, “only 25 pee cent and 37 per cent of the websites have reachable phone numbers and email addresses respectively.”

Pantami added that some of them lack complete list of website links of the agencies under their supervision while available ones are with outdated content.

NITDA further revealed that some the  ministries either have no active websites or are not registered on .GOV.NG domain.

Pantami said, for ease of doing business to be achieved, MDAs should meet expectations of businesses and citizens in the areas of transparency, accessibility and responsiveness.

He urged federal ministries to take yhe was 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 must be 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,” he admonished.

Pantami also recommended that government agencies at all levels should use the .GOV.NG domain in line with Nigerian content in ICT promotion.

The .GOV.NG domain is Nigerian Government identity on the Internet.

Requests for domain registration and other support services are attended to within 24hrs if all the requirements are provided, and further information on these requirements can be obtained by sending requests to [email protected].

NITDA is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications, created in April 2001 to implement the Nigerian Information Technology Policy and co-ordinate general IT development and regulation in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

(Nationalaccordnewspaper)