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E-Governance and Service Delivery in Local Government System of Rivers State 2015-2025

David, Roseline Obiyeseimo, Nathan O. Owhor PhD, Fortune O. Ojenamah PhD

Abstract

This study examined e-governance and service delivery in selected local government areas of Rivers State, focusing on the relationship between e-governance and service delivery and on information accessibility in relation to service delivery in Obio-Akpor, Eleme and Ahoada East Local Government Areas from 2015 to 2025. The study was motivated by persistent concerns about delays, limited information accessibility and inefficiencies in grassroots public service delivery despite increasing adoption of digital technologies. The study was anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model, which explains technology adoption in terms of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and related external factors. A survey research design was adopted, with data collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 120 respondents comprising local government staff and residents, selected through multistage proportionate stratified random sampling. Data were analysed using frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation, while the hypotheses were tested using chi-square at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed a statistically significant positive relationship between e-governance and service delivery, with a cluster mean of 3.09 and a chi-square value of 81.4, and a statistically significant influence of information accessibility on service delivery, with a cluster mean of 3.05 and a chi-square value of 63.7. Digital platforms were found to have most strongly improved communication between citizens and officials, while access to government information was found to most strongly improve service delivery quality, though timeliness of information receipt remained comparatively weak. The study concludes that e- governance and information accessibility both contribute significantly to improved service delivery at the grassroots level, and recommends improved digital infrastructure, an integrated local government information system with a public citizen portal, and sustained digital literacy training to strengthen these gains in Rivers State.

References

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