E-democracy: A panacea for enhanced participatory democracy (Nigeria in perspective)

This paper examines the voting patterns in Nigeria since independence till date, the growth of ICT in the country and its influence on the democratic process, and the e-readiness and prospects of e-democracy in influencing participatory democracy particularly in terms of increasing the number of voters. The data used for the research was collected through online source from the Nigerian Communications Commission site and the Nigeria Congress Organization site among others. The resulting data was analysed using simple statistical methods and results presented pictorially. Findings revealed that the success of e-government and e-democracy is largely dependent of the growth of ICT, which is still at its lowest ebb in the country. If the appropriate infrastructure is made available to implement e-democracy, it will arouse the interest of the populace in governance, increase the number of voters, and enhance transparency, probity and accountability, and participation in governance as well as help stabilize the nascent democracy. Keywords: E-democracy, E-government, E-participation, E-consultation, E-campaign and E-votingThe Information Technologist Vol. 3(1) 2006: 8-1