‘The Opportunity Exists. Why Don’t They Seize It?’ Political (In)Competence and the Potential of ICTs for Good Governance in Niger Republic

Gado Alzouma

doi:10.5334/sta.fq

Abstract

An increasing number of scholars, political activists, humanitarian workers, and peacebuilding strategists are now advocating ICTs for fostering democratic participation and good governance in Africa. For their part, governments are devising policies geared towards helping citizens controlling their own destiny through the use of ICTs. They are backed by international development organizations that are implementing numerous programmes and projects centered on the notions of e-government, e-governance, and e-democracy. All those concerned actors and development workers are particularly encouraged by the fact that digital devices are becoming increasingly available for public use on the continent. However, so far, we lack clear evidence that African citizens are actually using, in their everyday lives, digital tools for governance, political participation, and peacebuilding purposes. Based on the case of Niger Republic, this study seeks to contribute to answering this question through semi-structured interviews carried out with Nigerien social media users. It shows that many factors including illiteracy, and particularly digital illiteracy, lack of political will, inefficient methods and poor understanding of social media potential contribute to strongly mitigate digital activities when it comes to access, governance, political participation and peacebuilding.

Highlights

It shows that many factors including illiteracy, and digital illiteracy, lack of political will, inefficient methods and poor understanding of social media potential contribute to strongly mitigate digital activities when it comes to access, governance, political participation and peacebuilding
For a long time, the growing availability of digital devices, coupled with the development of an enthusiastic literature centred on the empowering potential of ICTs, have obscured the answer to the question of how mobile phones, the Internet and social media are being used by Africans, in everyday life, for governance and peacebuilding purposes
Most social media users say they access the internet through their mobile phones, we chose to interview cybercafé users because cybercafés are places where users are likely to be found at times when they would be carrying out digital activities and would be more receptive to conversations related to those activities

Summary

Gado Alzouma*

An increasing number of scholars, political activists, humanitarian workers, and peacebuilding strategists are advocating ICTs for fostering democratic participation and good governance in Africa For their part, governments are devising policies geared towards helping citizens controlling their own destiny through the use of ICTs. For their part, governments are devising policies geared towards helping citizens controlling their own destiny through the use of ICTs They are backed by international development organizations that are implementing numerous programmes and projects centered on the notions of e-government, e-governance, and e-democracy. Based on the case of Niger Republic, this study seeks to contribute to answering this question through semi-structured interviews carried out with Nigerien social media users It shows that many factors including illiteracy, and digital illiteracy, lack of political will, inefficient methods and poor understanding of social media potential contribute to strongly mitigate digital activities when it comes to access, governance, political participation and peacebuilding

Introduction

Background

Findings

Conclusion