Towards improving citizens engagement: A review of parliamentary websites in the 36 state legislatures in Nigeria

Abdulsalam Mustafa and Mahammad Sharifov
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Abdulsalam Mustafa: Department of Computer Science, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan
Mahammad Sharifov: Department of Computer Science, Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan

Journal of Advances in Humanities and Social Sciences, 2018, vol. 4, issue 4, 167-174

Abstract: Parliaments represent the interests of citizens and therefore remain critical to democracy and good governance. Therefore, for effective citizens’ engagement; ensuring online presence and; enhancing the transparency of internal processes, parliaments leverage on Information and Communication Technology, globally. This study investigates the contents of official parliamentary websites in the 36 State Houses of Assembly of Nigeria to determine how they facilitate effective engagement between citizens and their elected representatives. The methodology used include manual test based on categories and critical sub-factors in line with Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Guidelines. Desk research was also used to determine technical challenges for the implementation of e-parliament. The findings reveal that 36% of the state assemblies have official websites. Five are fully functional, and just five state legislatures effectively utilize interactivity tools to re-engage the citizens. Results show that 58% of the state legislatures use social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. The authors concluded that in enhancing civic participation, state legislatures need to provide a relatively open, more responsive, accessible and interactive website while extending social medial tools.

Keywords: Citizens participation; Legislature; Social media; State assembly; Web tools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:apb:jahsss:2018:p:167-174

DOI: 10.20474/jahss-4.4.2

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