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The Effect Of E-governance On Public Accountability In Inland Revenue Service
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1.2 Statement of the Problem
Despite the popularity, potency, and
precision of e-governance, it is yet to be judiciously adopted and
explored in the Nigerian public sector. A visit to the government
departments in Nigeria is a nightmare; it is characterized by a lot of
paper work, long queues, bureaucracy, cramped spaces and a lot of
frustrations. With the growing demands of citizens and changing global
rules and regulations, the Nigerian government as a matter of necessity
must explore a transparent and accountable medium to deliver its
statutory mandate to its citizens at the right time and quality.
The
link between e-governance implementations and public accountability is
generating some interesting debates. Many scholars have argued that
e-government is still a new phenomenon. That it is still very much
unclear and complex how it can promotes public accountability (Cuillier
and Piotrowski, 2009; Petrakaki et al., 2009). On the other side of the
swing, analysts and political watchers counter-argued that e-government
has spin-off effects, and that the more ICTs are used for government
businesses, the greater the impact on revenues, transparency and
accountability (Nkwe, 2012; Kaaya, 2011; Bellamy and Taylor, 1998;
Ebrahim et al., 2003). Consequently, there is a need to develop
frameworks and guidelines to provide in-depth understanding for this
phenomenon and to assist the Nigerian civil service on whether to or not
adopt e-government in its bid to achieve greater accountability.
The
current structure of the Lagos State Inland Revenue Service across
boards lack the capacity for revenue base data collection and analysis;
lack register of revenue customers and information system; poor
collection and analysis of performance data, lack performance evaluation
against targets; poor method (being cash-based only) of generation;
poor internal control and financial reporting; lack a documented action
plan for improving its collections; poor internal organizational
arrangement for revenue generation; lack of transparent accounting among
others (Eze, Omole, Onyinka & Okonji, 2004).
Many of the studies
on the impact of e-governance on public sector management were done
outside Nigeria. These studies particularly focus on corruption as a
dependent variable. Research on e-governance and public accountability
are very few. In Nigeria, most of the available studies about
e-governance such as Achimugu, Chukwurah & Ochala (2013), Agwu
(2014), and Onuigbo (2015) largely investigated factors hindering the
adoption of e-governance. These researches were also theoretical studies
whose findings were subjectively based on researchers’ personal
opinions. It is noted that the past studies did not give adequate
attention to the relationship between e-governance and public
accountability, as well as relating it to the Lagos State Inland Revenue
Service; hence, this study was undertaken to fill the identified gap
above by investigating the relationship between e-governance and public
accountability with a special reference to the Lagos State Inland
Revenue Service (LSIRS).
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main
objective of this study is to examine the connection between
e-governance and public accountability. Other specific aims are;
a) To investigate the relationship between e-governance and public accountability.
b)
To find out the effect of electronic payment system on transparency in
taxes and levies collection in Lagos State Inland Revenue Service
c) To explore the effect of e-consultation on improve states’ internally generated revenues in Nigeria.
d) To examine the correlation between e-information and corruption in the Lagos State public sector.
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