IN this era of digital literacy, e-government and enhanced interconnectivity, it is tragic that the Federal Government of Nigeria is unable to carry out the simple task of updating the website of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
A routine newspaper check revealed that, as at November 12, the website was full of blatant inaccuracies regarding the status of Nigeria’s federal ministers and their portfolios.
The names of 22 out of the 43 ministers appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in August were missing, including those holding ministerial portfolios in Industry, Trade and Investment; Niger Delta; Petroleum; Power, Works and Housing; Science and Technology; and Solid Minerals. Significantly, President Buhari is himself the nation’s petroleum minister.
Others were Agriculture and Rural Development; Aviation; Mines and Steel Development; Water Resources; Women Affairs and Social Development; Youth and Sport; Special Duties, and Transportation. They had all been marked “Not Appointed Yet.”
Six newly-created and restructured ministries were not on the website at all. Individuals like Mr. Festus Keyamo, Mr. Tayo Alasoadura, Alhaji Mustapha Baba Shehuri and Mrs. Zainab Ahmed were linked with the wrong portfolios.
This cannot be explained away as an oversight or the consequence of technical difficulties. It is incompetence, plain and simple. Regular content maintenance is one of the most important functions of technical website management; updating is a process that involves no more than a few clicks of a computer mouse. Electronic reminders and alerts can be built into the system to further facilitate regular updating.
The fact that the relevant page was speedily updated within 24 hours after the report was published only further underlines the seriousness of the situation; those in charge of updating the OSGF website knew what they had to do, but required the embarrassment of media exposure before they could bring themselves to do it.
This tardiness also entrenches widespread perceptions about the inefficiency of the Federal Government; if it is unable to do something as simple as updating an important website, what else is it also failing to carry out efficiently? Can an administration that makes heavy weather of an ostensibly simple IT process really be trusted with running the country efficiently and ensuring the security, peace and prosperity of its inhabitants?
A comprehensive overhaul is required in the administrative apparatus of the Federal Government. Organograms dealing with duties and responsibilities in its ministries, agencies and departments must be closely reexamined with a view to clarifying who is responsible for what, streamlining duty schedules, and updating sanctions for dereliction of duty.
It is especially important that the process of identifying and punishing lapses is fair, equitable and quick; when officers know that laziness and incompetence will be inevitably dealt with, they will be much more likely to carry out their duties efficiently.
It is also essential that deliberate attempts are made to reform entrenched attitudes to government work. If the updating debacle had occurred in a private company, it would have been identified much sooner and would have been resolved much more quickly. Public service is far too often seen as undeserving of standards of commitment and efficiency that most private firms take for granted.
This must change.
In countries like Singapore and Japan, the public service is designed to attract only the best and the brightest. Family connections, religion and other primordial considerations take a distant second place to merit. The demanding standards are rewarded with relatively high salaries and conditions of service, as well as a great deal of social prestige.
This should be the goal for Nigeria. The civil service should become a magnet for the most talented citizens who can bring their work ethic to bear upon an inefficient public service and transform it for the country’s benefit.
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