It is obvious from very reliable trajectories now that, more political actors, more non-state actors, more public spirited individuals in Cross River State, who have hitherto invested in little attempts to reach vulnerable people without tangible success, are yielding to the persistent calls to employ evolving technology to eliminate or bypass the obstacles on the way and hit the bottom.
There is an increasing appetite amongst those who have, to use cleaner and fraud-resistant tech, to distribute opportunities to our communities directly, without much ado and red-tapism. The copy-and-paste effect of this trajectory is mushrooming at a non-negligible pace.
This is also helping to collect very useful data that is an essential ingredient for planning and development. This data is also being guided by the world’s best practices and data security rules.
The development is also necessitating an avalanche of requests for more personal information from citizens which can be sourced from our LGAs, from any location in the world, at the tap of a key pad.
This will not only generate internal revenue for the LGAs, it will also ensure the security and authentication of such information with secured identity numbers.
Information like Certificates of Origin, Birth certificates, Death certificates, Marriage certificates, etc which are statutorily issued by LGAs, are widely needed by citizens spread far and wide, to beat so many hurdles. Many people have been denied several opportunities where they reside because, they don’t have original and verifiable copies of these documents and have to travel hundreds of miles back home before they can get a document that can be easily printed from a secured LGA portal online.
It is now time for the State Government to support this process by taking a bold step to create greater access for a greater number of our citizens to participate in this emerging trend by freeing the LGAs, to decide on their own, which IT company they want, to host their LGA portals that will make these documents available, verifiable and download-able online.
Currently, LGAs in our State aren’t allowed to host their official portals independent of the State. This is inimical to the growth of the Councils. It limits their independent quest for growth and innovation through tech. It limits their reach in a fast expanding world. It suffocates localized innovation and creativity. Whoever brought that idea, did not see the future.
Unbundling the LGAs from this mindless fiat will not hurt the State government in any way. Lumping it in one place is rather the unfounded fear that has stunted the ideas that some Chairmen and their teams have in their plans.
The Corporate Affairs Commission has integrated AI into their website and once all your verification information you are asked to provide are submitted and you make your payment, you can get your certificate in 30minutes. Why do I have to travel hundreds of miles to get something from my LGA which I can pay and get online, merely because the LGA Chairman is not allowed to host an official portal where I can transact? That is monopolistic and out of sync with a rapidly progressing world.
It is time to give it a thought and a trial.
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.