Digital transformation: an investigative study of the performance of digitalization in governance

Purpose Corruption in Nigeria is a wicked issue that is threatening the performance of governance. However, the potentials of digital transformation in governance have proven to resolve similar issues in many countries. This study seeks to understand the reasons why the digital transformation of governance in Nigeria is not ending corruption and the lack of accountability and transparency but is creating new opportunities of corruption. This is because Nigeria continues to decline in its ranking in the corruption perception index – yearly. The pupose of this study is to identify the various factors responsible for this and proffers adequate solutions. Design/methodology/approach Within this study, the direct observatory methodology was used. This is a form of unstructured observation, whereby the complexity and context of a behavior or interaction are examined. Two government organizations that have integrated digitalization into their processes and services were investigated; these are the Federal High Court and the Nigeria Immigration Service all based in Abuja, Nigeria. Findings The primary factors responsible for the poor performance of the digital transformation of governance within the two organizations studied – include the adoption of a semi-automated system for the digital transformation of public governance, lack of a proper audit system (internal and external), inherent culture of corruption, in-addition to the individual and organization value systems that supports corruption, lack of adequate laws, policies and regulation to prevent, manage and punish corruption and the lack of publicity on the transformation of governance within these organizations, the poor usage of the system and inadequate digital public infrastructure. Research limitations/implications This research focused on investigating two public organizations, while there are several public organizations. The results of this study may or may not apply to other organizations, but it is impossible to know at this time. This is because of the nature of this study. This represents a limitation of this research. It is possible that few public organizations within the public sector are getting the benefits of digitalization and lessons can be derived from them to improve those that are not. On the other hand, the results obtained in this study may not apply to the private sector. This needs to be examined in future studies. Hence, future studies that should investigate the impact of digital transformation of governance in both the private and public sectors – using a mixed approach are encouraged. Originality/value This study posits itself as one of the earliest studies to deploy the direct observatory methodology in understanding digital transformation of governance in Nigeria. Within this study, clear loopholes were identified with verifiable empirical evidences. Unlike previous studies that reviewed literatures and used surveys, this study used an un-biased and real-life approach to gather evidence. This study bridged the gap between theory and practice of how digital transformation in governance works in Nigeria.