I can say with full authority that I visit a particular south-south's govt website every day for news and I can also say with full authority that that site's news section hadn't been updated in over 3 months, until 2 weeks ago when it was updated to reflect some positive news about the state. Having said that, I will at least give it to the author for undertaking, free of charge, such an analysis of said websites.

http://www.punchng.com/i-punch/a-peep-into-state-govts-websites-2/

North Central

Benue State’s website, benuestate.gov.ng, with its outstanding visual resolution and unique design, is far from being up-to-date. In fact, when our correspondent visited the site, the “Organs”, “Ministries,” “Agencies”and “Projects” menus were all “under construction.” Only the “About Us” menu contains information about notable features of the state.

While kogistate.gov.ng’s account has been suspended, the only visible website for Kogi State is kogistate.org, which has a mobile site and the desk top version. However, kogistate.org, supervised by the state’s directorate of science and technology and last updated on May 23, 2012. Literally the site would have gathered “dust” online.

Also kwarastate.gov.ng, nasarawastatenigeria.com and plateaustate.gov.ng, belonging to the governments of Kwara, Nassarawa and Plateau states, respectively, currently provides access to information and services from various ministries, departments and agencies to the natives of the three states.

Apart from the poor graphic design of nigerstate.gov.ng, the website seems to have been abandoned. The most recent information on the site, a Sallah message to the people of Niger State, was last uploaded on October 25, 2012.

South South

Visits to the websites of state governments in the South South geopolitical zone, riversstate.gov.ng, crossriverstate.gov.ng, bayelsa.gov.ng, edostate.gov.ng, deltastate.gov.ng, and aksgonline.com, show constant online presence. Apart from the regular updates, good feedback mechanisms and the rich contents, all the websites have social media plug-ins that boost their social networking capabilities.

South East

The following websites: abiastate.gov.ng, anambrastate.gov.ng and imostate.gov.ng, those of Abia, Anambra and Imo states respectively, set the pace in terms of management and effectiveness in the South East Zone.

In spite of its fairly good resolution, the load time for enugustate.gov.ng is somewhat slow. This could irritate and scare visitors away. Ebonyi State’s ebonyistate.gov.ng is no longer operational, but ebonyionline.com was last fed with current activities of the state government on November 26, 2012.

South West

When our correspondent visited the website of Osun State, the server at www.osunstate.gov.ng could not be found. This confirms that the site is no longer in use.

Other official websites that have good resolution are ekitistate.gov.ng, lagosstate.gov.ng, ogunstate.gov.ng, and ondostate.gov.ng. They have quick load times in addition to regular updates, rich contents, a good number of social media plug-ins and feedback mechanisms.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Kings Elite, a Lagos based digital media consulting firm, Celestine Madueke, urges state governments to take their online presence more seriously in this digital age.

He says government websites should not be made fully functional only during campaigns because every state is a brand and websites constitute an integral part of their online reputation.

“The world is no longer going digital, but already digitalised. That is why those managing official websites of state governments need to wake up from their slumber and ensure that their respective brands have good online presence.

“The websites should serve as information portals that cater for the needs of various audiences. How a state looks online is very important because it is the first point of contact with local and international online audiences.

“A government that fails to update its website, or whose website is badly designed, risks losing local and foreign investors because some people make investments based on verified information,” he says.

On why government websites should have social media plug-ins, Madueke says such tools help to direct visitors to the state’s social media sites and enables them to follow the government on such social networking platforms.

“Democracy, they say, is all about the people. The social media, no doubt, is giving the people more power and voice in this digital age. So, having social media plug-ins on a government website will make the citizenry monitor the progress of the state online and also put them in a position to voice their concerns.

“Besides, with a well-designed website and a well optimised social media profile, state governments should be able to conduct polls and surveys online that would give them an impetus to attain giant strides,” Madueke adds.