E-GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY: A CASE STUDY OF THE JOINT ADMISSION AND MATRICULATION BOARD (JAMB), GOMBE STATE

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Nigeria is unarguably the most populous country in Africa constituting about one-fifth of the entire population of Africa (Salisu, 2000). The country operates a mixed economy in which essential services are provided through private and public initiatives except for few monopolistic services like the national defense, port management, immigration and admissions into the country’s tertiary institutions. At present, some of the erstwhile monopolies are being operated through concession and public-private-partnership (PPP) arrangements.
In spite of the huge potentials of Nigeria in terms of huge market (population), natural and human resources, Nigerians are still considered paradoxically poor (Oshewolo, 2010; Okumadewa, 2010).The causes of the high poverty level are multifaceted but it has been linked to the state of public service delivery (Rasul and Roggery, 2016). The World Bank (2017) ranked Nigeria 33 on the Governance Quality Index (GQI) which is among the lowest in the world. An important indicator of governance quality in Nigeria and anywhere in the world is the public service delivery. Therefore, by implication, the poor ranking on the governance quality index is partially or substantially a reflection of poor public service delivery.
There have been concerted efforts to improve public service delivery in Nigeria. More recent of the initiative to improve the public/civil service delivery is the SERVICOM. SERVICOM is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria to address the recommendations of the research report on public service delivery in Nigeria. According to the report, service delivery to Nigerians was very poor in all ramifications (SERVICOM, 2004) necessitating a paradigm shift in service delivery through training and effective monitoring.
An important approach/innovation that has been adopted to improve efficiency in governance in many parts of the world is the introduction of electronic governance (E-Governance). Electronic governance (E-Governance) refers to the use of the Information and Communication Technology in public management and by extension, public service delivery (Chatfield and Alhujran, 2009). It involves the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in conducting government’s businesses (Saxena, 2015). According to Awoleye, Oluwaranti, Siyanbola, and Adagunodo (2008), E-Governance include the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to carry out information exchange with the citizens, businesses and among various government arms including the judiciary, the executive and legislature.
The use of E-governance among many countries of the world is premised on its perceived capabilities to facilitate efficient service delivery to the public. The primary benefits of E - Governance includes efficiency and its capabilities to reduce corruption through automation. Information Deveveloment and The Center for Democracy and Technology (2022) stated that
E-Governance has the potential to reducing income disparities between countries as well as promote tourism among other national benefits (Awoleye, 2018). E-governance is a concept that is multi dimensional. Awoleye (2018) identified some of components of E-Governance as including “E-Administration (Improving Government Processes), E-Citizen (Connecting Citizens), E-Society (Building external Interactions) and E-Applications (Government-to-Citizen or Government-to-Customer (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to Government (G2G) and Government-to-Employees (G2E)”.The sum total of these E-governance components would ideally shape the public experience of public service delivery in any country including Nigeria.
The E-Administration refers to the conduct of government processes like accounting, budgeting, internal communications, planning and host of other administrative processes electronically. The primary goal of E-Administration is to ensure efficiency in administrative processes. The E-Citizens involves connecting citizens in such a way that the positives of social interactions are optimized. This may involve the creation of E-forum and online communities where citizens can interact and discuss on public matters. A good example of this is online phone-in programme on public debate. The E-Society refers to creating the capabilities for seamless external interactions with various components (institutions) of the society while the E
Application involves creating a paperless application process (Bhatnagar, 2014). Chatfield & Alhujran (2019), distinct from Awoyele (2018) viewed E-Governance (a term they referred to as E-Government) from the perspective of stages of development of information technology (IT) capabilities. They identified four stages of governance IT capabilities. Owning a functional official website to provide information service on government activities to the general public is labeled as being stage one of the IT capabilities. This stage is viewed in terms of on E-way communication in a typical top down information flow from the government to the general public. E-governance is adjudged to be in the stage two when two way interactions are enabled. Two-way interactions are conceived in terms of the capability to download forms, fill the form and upload the same to a portal, making of email enquiries, enabling of feedback mechanism like live chat etc. The stage three involves capabilities for secured online payment of taxes, levies, dues, license renewal fees etc. The stage four referred to as E-Democracy stage involves E-voting capabilities as well as electronic consultations and policy making.
The United Nations E-government global survey report (UN global E-government readiness Report, 2004) identified five stages of E-governance development worldwide. These stages include (i) emergence presence (ii) enhanced presence (iii) interactive presence (iv) transactional presence and (v) networked (or fully integrated) presence. The stage one (emergence presence), according to the UN, refers to the identified first stage in which a country makes commitments to become a player in E-governance. Just like (Chatfield & Alhujran, 2019) and (Adeyemo, 2011), The UN described this stage as a stage where presence on the web is limited and usually static (i.e. non-interactive). At this stage, the goal is to pass information to various government, government agencies or parastatals’ publics in a on E-way mode.
The stage two is described as the ‘enhanced presence’ stage. At this stage, noticeable changes can be seen particularly in the area of contents and how they are updated. Notwithstanding, the information flow at this stage is still characteristically directional from government to its publics. Unlike the stage one and stage two, a level of interactivity is introduced while services are broadened. At the stage three, the number of government parastatals connected also increased dramatically. The transactional presence stage ( stage four) usually have a fully developed two-way interactivity between the citizens and the government or between the government and external bodies. At the stage five, all government agencies, parastatals or departments become fully integrated into the E-Governance.
This stage is the one referred to by Adeyemo (2011) as the fourth stage. The G2G, G2C, G2B and G2E mentioned earlier are fully integrated. At this stage paper work are only to serve as backup while electronic records are used in real time in conducting government businesses. The driving force behind E-Governance all over the world is the unprecedented growth in ICT (Gopalsamy, 2019; Garson, 2016). In fact, it can be rightly said that without the development in
the ICT sector, E-Governance would have been impossible. This emphasizes the role of ICT as lifeblood of E-Governance. For example, a common ICT like the E-mail has redefined communications among government agencies and parastatals. It has revolutionized the speed with which messages are shared; how messages are stored for future retrieval; and the capabilities to reach millions of people instantaneously and sometimes at no cost.
Nigeria appears to have all the necessary indices that necessitate E-Governance in her public sector. The service delivery among public and civil servants is adjudged below expectation (Ohiole and Ojo, 2015; Darma and Ali, 2014; Ibietan, 2013), corruption is not only pervasive but also endemic (Lawal, 2013; Salisu, 2000) and the internet penetration in the country is growing at a very fast pace (Poushter, 2016). These indices, prima facie, necessitate new tools or approaches that could improve public service delivery. The realization of the potential of ICT and by extension, E-Governance towards empowering the citizenry and improving public service delivery in this digital age, led to the formulation of the national policy on Information Technology in 2001 by the General Olusegun Obasanjo-led Federal Government of Nigeria (Awoleye 2018). The policy details the roadmap for achieving ICT capabilities in the country by 2015 (Diso, 2015).Sequel to the above, a formal focus on E-Governance as a means of improving public service delivery could be said to have existed for at least one and half decades and its appraisal is necessary with a view to understanding its impact on public service delivery in the country. To this end, this study is billed to assess E-Governance and Public service delivery using the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as a case study. The choice of JAMB as the organization that this study focused on is premised on series of reforms that have taken place in the agency particularly in the area of deepened E- Service delivery. The JAMB was established by the Act No. 2 of 1978 and empowered to conduct matriculation
examinations into the nation’s universities (JAMB, 2017). The scope of operation of the board was expanded through the amendment of the decree No. 2 in 1988 to include conducts of examinations into polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.
In the area of E-Applications, JAMB has made tremendous progress. The students’ application process, the conduct of the matriculation examinations, the marking and the release of the examination results has been computerized. It is no longer impossible for students to see their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results in a matter of hours after sitting for their respective examinations. This was not possible in the past when the examination was paper-pencil rather than computer-based. The paper pencil mode of conducting the examination was reportedly characterized by massive irregularities and inefficiency (Sani and Mohammad, 2015; Alabi, Issa and Oyekunle, 2012) necessitating a paradigm shift. This paradigm shift in the conduct of the matriculation has had its own fair share of pros and cons but general improvement over the traditional paper-pencil mode has been reported.
Another area of improvement in the JAMB electronic activities is the easy access to various services offered by JAMB. Prominent among these services is the issue of JAMB brochure. The JAMB official brochure is a collection of courses offered in various institutions of learning (registered with the National University Commission) in Nigeria and their respective requirements in terms pre-qualifications and JAMB courses combinations. The brochure also provides information on recommended textbooks and writing materials. In the past candidates find it difficult to know and assess the correct subject combinations for a particular course of study, topics to study for a particular subject and a host of other course selection related activities. With recent advancement in technology, candidates can easily assess that information online or from a compact disk (CD) provided at the point of registration.
The adoption of E-governance by JAMB also has tendency to reduce information asymmetry that fraudsters often capitalize on to defraud unsuspecting candidates. Information asymmetry refers to information gap between JAMB and prospective candidates. The fraud associated with the information asymmetry manifests in the sales of fake registration forms to candidates. The shift from the paper for to electronic form appears to have reduced to the barest minimum if not totally eliminate the possibility. Besides, with open-access information on authorized places where candidates could purchase the form, incidence of fake forms appears to have drastically reduced.
An important service that JAMB often renders to the admission aspirants is change of course/institution. This service occurs when a candidate voluntarily changes his/her mind about his/her choice of institution having submitted an admission registration form or compelled to do so by circumstance which may relate to not meeting the score requirements of earlier chosen course and/or institution. Previously, this service requires that a candidate purchased a form, fill and do a physical submission at designated JAMB office. Complaints of missing forms, mishandling of forms resulting in names being wrongly spelt etc. were often reported. With the adoption of E-application, candidates can now easily process the change of course/institution form in the comfort of their home by registration on the JAMB portal and online convenient payment with the use of Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
Moreover, the printing of examination slip, the checking of results that often involved long distant travelling with its associated risks, checking of admission status, and printing of admission letters can now be easily done in the confine of a candidates’ room on the JAMB portal. This eliminates unnecessary travelling, queuing and exposure of adolescence that dominate candidacy of JAMB examination to undue risks. This was not so in the past when all
these services are enjoyed only by visiting a designated JAMB office. Without doubt, progress has been made by JAMB in the area of E-Application as a component of E-Service (E Governance). The adoption of E-Governance in the internal operations of the organization, however, remains unclear to the public and, as well, not yet empirically studied (to the best of the knowledge of the researcher having reviewed the literature relevant to the subject matter). This creates a vacuum in knowledge which this study intends to fill.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In developing countries (Nigeria inclusive), governments control much of the economic resources and consequently play a key role in service delivery to the general public (Darma and Ali, 2014). The quality of service delivery by government employees constitutes an important measure of welfare of the people in these countries. Public service delivery in Nigeria is characterized by inefficiency (Ibietan, 2013; Nweze, 2017). In a study conducted by Darma and Ali (2014), clear differences were identified between expectation of service delivery from public servants, officially, and the perception of the service quality actually delivered.
In order to ensure that the Nigerian public sector agencies are efficient in achieving government’s policy objectives, it has become imperative to investigate the nature of E governance and Service Delivery in the country. This is particularly important since in the Nigerian public service, the issue of poor quality of service delivery, poor service culture, cases of poor employee engagement and cases of negative customer experience that has hindered public service delivery in the country have been reported (Mapira, 2013). Many other factors have been identified as the immediate and remote causes of the public service inefficiency. These factors include nepotism, red tapism and poor monitoring mechanisms. Some authors like Oluwu (2012), Arowolo (2012) and Soludo (2012) have identified the structure of government as
the primary cause of the inefficiency. This school of thought argued that in a situation where the government is practically centralized as opposed to the federalism provided in the constitution, effective monitoring becomes tasking leading to inefficient service delivery. Services such as education, health, agriculture, water and sanitation, power, housing and urban development, justice, defense are prerogatives of the government in Nigeria due to the large resources it controlled and relatively less developed private sector. Of particular interest in these array of public sector services is education.
Education is unarguably the bedrock of any society and quality of human resource is often cited as crucially linked to the development potential of a nation state like Nigeria (Sharif and Abdullah, 2013). The realization of the importance of education to national development prompted the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to intervene in education directly through funding, establishment of schools, provision of research grants; and indirectly through monitoring, control and regulations. JAMB is one of the agencies of FGN with the mandate to regulate admissions into the nation’s tertiary institutions believed to be the bedrock of developing the nation’s human resource. In order to ensure that those admitted to study in the nation’s citadel of learning are qualified with capability to optimize the quality of the nation’s stock of human capital, service delivery by JAMB office Gombe has to be efficient. Attempts at ensuring that JAMB service delivery is efficient have culminated in the reforms that have obviously shaped its mode of operation. An important aspect of this reform is the adoption of E
Governance particularly in the area of E-Application as stated earlier. Although the progress of JAMB in the area of E-Application is noticeable, how JAMB has fared in the other aspects of E Governance is unclear requiring an empirical assessment.
Traditionally, JAMB had conducted her examinations using the paper-pencil test (PPT) model. This mode of examination is reportedly characterized by inefficiency and inaccuracy (Retnawati, 2015). Although the alternative computer-based test (CBT) has its own challenges, these challenges are primarily of the technology failure (Oduntan, Ojuawo, & Oduntan, 2015; Abubakar & Adebayo, 2014; Joshua & Ikiroma, 2012) which can be rectified easily with state of the art facilities. This is unlike the problem of the PPT that is shrouded in design (Retnawati, 2015). The inefficiency of the JAMB PPT examination was evident in the wide-scale examination mal-practices that often characterized the conduct of the examination in the past (Oyedeji, 2016). As part of the efforts to curb the widespread examination malpractices, JAMB introduced a customized answer sheet in 1994 on which candidate’s examination numbers and subject types are preprinted (Ojerinde, 2015).
The examination system was further improved in 1998 involving reshuffling of question types and candidates seat numbers such that candidates sitting in close proximity cannot copy from one another. Although the newly-introduced measures reportedly curbed the mass cheating in the examination to some extent (Ojerinde, 2015), inefficiency in grading, corrupt collaborations at the examination centers with officials to undermine the system were still pervasive necessitating a new model for the examinations. Within the period that JAMB introduced the innovation, authors (Omobola, 1995; Isreal, 1996) reported cases of missing results, candidates having wrong types given to them as against the type printed on their answer sheets leading to frustrations. Apart from the cheating, the release of results could take months with candidates waiting. This usually put some candidates’ life plans on hold as they await the ‘verdict’ of JAMB to determine their next courses of action. The waiting of thousands of candidates constitutes economic loss to the nation. The mass cheating and the inefficiency in the
JAMB requires a paradigm shift in strategies towards repositioning the agency for better performance. To this end, the idea of a combined exam of PPT and CBT was formed. Later, the CBT examination mode was fully-adopted by JAMB. This birthed the adoption of E-Governance (at least E-Application element of E-Governance). It is important to understand how JAMB’s service delivery has fared in the use of E- Governance. For instance, the use of technology by JAMB in interacting with other government agencies like NYSC, NUC etc. otherwise referred to as Government to Government (G2G) which is important for efficient service delivery remains unclear. Likewise, the use of technology in its internal workings among employees (G2E) are also not open to the public and yet to be empirically assessed.
Besides, E-Governance is often misconstrued as just the presence of government agencies or institutions on a static website online (Ohiole and Ojo, 2015). In as much as government’s or its agencies’ presence on the internet via websites (static) is a good step towards E-Governance, it is grossly misleading to refer to mere possession of websites as a definition of E-Governance. This study will assess the JAMB’s position as regards to E- Governance and Public service delivery in Gombe State.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study is to examine the impact of E-Governance on public service delivery using JAMB Office Gombe as the case study. The specific objectives are to: 1. Determine the effect of E-Governance on service culture in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
2. Examine the relationship between E-Governance and service quality in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
3. Investigate the effect of E-Governance on Employee Engagement in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
4. Explore the relationship between E-Governance and customer experience in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
1.4 Research Questions
1. How does E-Governance have significant effect on the service culture in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State?
2. What is the relationship between E- Governance and service quality in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State?
3. How does E-Governance have significant effect on employee engagement in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State?
4. What is the relationship between E- Governance and the customer experience in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The study hypotheses are stated in null form and presented below: H01: E-Governance has no significant effect on the service culture in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
H02: There is no significant relationship between E-Governance and service quality in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
H03: E-Governance has no significant effect on employee engagement in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
H04: There is no significant relationship between E-Governance and the customer experience in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
Theoretical Significance
This study will advance conceptualization of E-Governance within the Nigeria context and in Nigeria public domain. The study will draw on the existing literature on E-Governance from local and international sources and contribute to scholarly literatures that examine the impact of E-Governance on public service delivery in Nigeria. The study is considered significant theoretically because it is novelty in considering all aspects of E- Governance in public institution in Nigeria context as against focus on E-Application that dominate the Nigeria literature on E-Governance. This provides opportunity for holistic assessment of E-Governance in public institution in Nigeria which contributes to the extant literature on E-Governance and public service delivery.
Empirical Significance
Focusing on the Joint and Matriculation Board (JAMB)’s E-governance initiative, this study will contribute to the empirical record of public institutions in Nigeria in terms of E-Governance initiatives, adoption and challenges encountered towards attaining full scale E-Governance in Nigeria’s public service. The results could form part of the record in time on the progress of Gombe JAMB office in the area of E-Governance and administration.
Practical contribution or Significance to Policy Makers and other Stakeholders Results of this study could become an important non-partisan or external overview of JAMB E Governance initiatives which ultimately help it towards improving performance. JAMB is created and empowered to serve the public. Understanding its initiatives through public eye is important towards performance improvement. On this basis, the study is considered significant.
Besides, admission of qualified students into the nation’s tertiary institutions is a viable preliminary step that government could take towards optimizing its stock of human capital. For instance, when the right candidates with requisite basic knowledge are admitted to study a programme that is beneficial to national development, aggregate knowledge and performance level could be raised. Studies have found significant relationship between quality of admission process and academic performance (Bolapeju, Adeyemi, and Ogbodo, 2014; Joe, Kpolovie, Osonwa, and Iderima, 2014; Emaikwu, 2012; Salahdeen and Murtala, 2005).
General improvement in academic performance of students (who eventually become tomorrow’s labour force and administrators) has tendency to increase national productivity. By implication, a better admission process through E-Governance, JAMB could effectively raise national productivity. Understanding the E-Governance initiatives of JAMB and how they affect service delivery in the area of admission management which could help identify key issues towards improving public service delivery by JAMB.
Furthermore, the study could provide a basis for further studies on the subject matter. The academia and non-academic researchers interested in public administration (particularly the E Governance paradigm), will gain insight into the E-Governance initiatives of JAMB, understand the dynamics of its acceptability among employees and how they were perceived by its key
publics (e.g. students). This has tendency to shape research focus plausibly in the future 1.7 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
This study is conducted to appraise the E-governance initiatives in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Gombe State and their perceived impact on the board’s public service delivery from the year 2020-2025. The E-Governance in JAMB is arguably an initiative
that had occurred over the years and could be seen as a cumulative phenomenon. This study will therefore trace the historical development of E-Governance of JAMB.
Specifically, this study focuses on E-Governance initiatives and service delivery of JAMB Gombe State office in the last five years given that it was within this period the national policy on Information Technology was re-lunched by the democratically elected government led by the General Muhammadu Buhari. In terms of the study population, the focus is on the employees of JAMB office Gombe State North-East, Nigeria.
1.8 Operational Definition of Terms
In order to avoid ambiguity, key terms used in the study are defined operationally below: G2G (Government to Government): This model aims at providing internet services among government organization at various levels of inter-government relations.
G2E (Government to Employees): This model of E-governance seeks to improve on the transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the interactions between the governments and its employees through the application of ICTs.
G2B (Government to Business): This model of E-governance employs the procurement and/ or delivery of goods and services between the government and the private sector via the use of ICT. G2C (Government to Citizen): This type of E-government is geared towards creating links and communication channels between the government and the citizen. G2C aims at establishing an efficient flow of interaction between the government and the citizen which is the whole essence of adopting E-governance.
E-Governance: This refers to the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in government to run governmental activities including public service delivery. E-Government: Refers to government that embraces E-Governance.
Employee Service Delivery: Refers to services rendered to members of the public by government employees as part of public service.
Computer Based Test (CBT): This refers to an examination conducted electronically through a computer connected to a network.
Paper Pencil Test (PPT): Refers to the traditional examination done with a physical pen and paper in a non-virtual environment involving a printout of examination papers and/or answer sheets.
Examination Malpractice: Means conduct during examination by candidate that contravenes examination regulations and done with the intention to receive better results than deserved. Biometric Capture System (BCS): This refers to biometric data capture system. It involves capturing of fingerprints as a means of verifying a candidate’s claim as being eligible to write JAMB examination and curb incidence of impersonation during examination Service Culture: refers to a culture within an organization where customer satisfaction is top priority. No business can stay in business without customers. How you treat or mistreat them determines how long your door stay open and bad service is a one way ticket to business failure. Customer Experience: Means the entirety of the interactions a customer has with an organization and its products. it is the sum-totality of how customers engage with the organization and brand, not just in a snapshot in time, but throughout the entire arc of being a customer.
Employee Engagement: This refers to a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organization to give their best each day, committed to their organizational goals and valves, motivated to contribute to organizational success, with an enhance sense of their well-being.
Service Quality: Means an assessment of how well a delivered service conforms to the client’s expectations. Service business operators often assess the service quality provided to their customers in order to improve their service, to quickly identify problems and to better assess client satisfaction.
 

    Date: 2026-08-02 00:00:00.000000