U. D. Abasilim

ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE PLATFORM: TOWARDS OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF NON-INCLUSION OF CITIZENS IN PUBLIC POLICY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA

This paper examined electronic governance platforms ability to mitigate the hitherto non-inclusion of citizens in policy formulation and implementation in Nigeria. To achieve the objective of the study, secondary data collected from books, journals and government websites of 20 states were analysed to ascertain whether there are avenues for citizens to interact with governments in policy formulation as a way of promoting participatory governance. The study revealed that while electronic governance is a possible solution to overcoming the challenges of non-inclusion of citizens in the formulation of public policy; but its adoption is yet to be achieved due to the low level of literacy rate and government inability to provide the necessary infrastructure. It, therefore, recommends the need for the Federal Government of Nigeria to involve a sound and clear guideline on how to adopt electronic governance in policy formulation through an increase in budgetary allocation towards infrastructural development and mass education of citizens.