The Role of Technology in Improving Public Sector Performance in Nigeria

Abstract

Over the years, the public sector in Nigeria has faced various challenges, including bureaucracy, corruption, and inefficiencies in service delivery, which have dampened the efficiency of the public sector, especially in revenue generation. However, the rapid advancement of technology globally, the increasing rise of globalization, and the contagion effect across the globe have led to the adaptation of technology to a great extent in developing economies. Nigeria, as a developing economy, relies on the Western world for most of its technology, which is accompanied by a huge cost of the transfers, and the country is left with the dilemma of whether technology truly promotes public sector efficiency and growth. Against this backdrop, this study seeks to investigate the impact of technology on public sector efficiency in Nigeria. The study employed monthly data ranging from 2010 to 2022 and was extracted from the database of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The independent variables are Information, Communication, and Technology which served as a proxy for Technology, while Foreign Direct Investment, Exchange Rate, and Inflation were also included as the control variables in the model. While public sector efficiency which is proxied by public revenue represent the dependent variable. The result of the unit root showed that the variables are stationary at levels and first difference, hence the use of the ARDL model which established a short-run relationship among the variables. The result, in the long run ARDL showed that technology had a positive and significant impact on public sector efficiency. The study, therefore, recommends that the Government needs to intensify efforts in the process of acquisition and implementation of technology in the public sector to improve revenue generation for the Government and, invariably, output. A large portion of government budgetary allocations should be channeled more toward adequate development of IT infrastructures to increase efficiency. Ultimately, the Monetary and Fiscal Authorities should collaborate in churning out policies that will improve economic parameters such as exchange rate, interest rate, Inflation, output, etc.