E-government development indices and the attainment of United Nations sustainable development goals in Africa: A cross-sectional data analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the United Nations (UN) e-government index (EGDI) and e-government development in Africa from 2010 to 2020 and forecasts the effect of e-government on the actualization of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Africa by 2030. To achieve the objectives, secondary data were collected on EDGI, online service delivery index (OSI), telecommunication infrastructure index (TII) and human capital index (HCI) from UN e-government survey spanning 2010-2020. The study utilized an improved modelled technique of panel data regression for cross-sectional observations. The finding indicates that there exists a positive and significant impact of the OSI, TII, and HCI on the overall EGDI in Africa. The study also revealed that there is a strong and positive relationship between E-government Development Indicators and the achievement of UN SDGs in Africa. This implies that African nations will experience a slow and insignificant increase from 2022 with an EGDI value of 0.4208 to 0.4331 in 2024, implying a 2.9% slight increment. The predicted value further shows that there will be a decrease from the EGDI value of 0.4331 in 2024 to 0.4330 in 2026, while the average EGDI value will increase slightly to 0.4346 in 2028 and finally to 0.4369 in the year 2030, which is equivalent to a 0.5% increment. EGDI value obtained predicts that Africa may not attain UN SDGs by 2030. Accordingly, the study recommends that drastic measures be taken to improve the three indices.