In 2023, Sokoto State Government budgeted N48.5 million for business reform through four website projects but, less than a year after the project end dates, most of these websites are either unavailable or down.

The said business reforms were funded by the World Bank through the State Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) project. The aim, according to the World Bank, is to promote transparency and improve the ease of doing business in the state.

Details of these initiatives were published in the Sokoto 2023 State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Progress Report in July.

Out of five websites the government claimed to have funded, only one was active at press time.

According to the SABER action plan, one of the project component was the establishment of the Sokoto Geographic Information System Office. The project, funded with N11.5 million, would have succeeded if the SOGIS had a functional website to improve administration and investment in land-related projects. FIJ verified that the SOGIS website remains active and operational.

However, the other components of the project have not seen the same success. For instance, the government allocated N10 million for “increased fiber optic network deployment and access to broadband”.

This project component was supposed to make the process of applying for and obtaining Rights of Way (ROW) more transparent, with relevant information accessible through the website of the state’s urban and regional planning agency.

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According to the action plan document, this website has been created and is currently accessible. But FIJ’s attempt to access the website between Wednesday and Saturday only resulted in an internal server error.

This means that key documents such as investment incentives, contractor forms and BPP laws remain inaccessible to the public.

Additionally, the state earmarked N17 million for “enabling firm operations and regulatory reforms”. The project component was split across two objectives. The larger objective had a N15 million funding and a June 2023 deadline. The smaller objective had a N2 million funding and a July deadline.

According to the action plan, this ‘smaller objective’ involved creating a website to provide export guidelines and business registration procedures. The SABER action plan document declared this project completed.

Achieving success for the larger objective, according to the action plan document, would mean access to the websites of the ministries of commerce, justice, and agriculture.

However, the proposed website was inaccessible at press time. When FIJ accessed this webpage, the page appeared to be under construction. It was tagged by the Google Chrome browser as an ‘insecure webpage’.

Also, none of the webpages of the state’s ministries of agriculture, justice and commerce were available at press time.

Another component of the SABER project aimed to “increase sustainable large-scale investment” in the state, with a planned finish date of September 2023. The state dedicated N5 million to fund this component of the project.

With the success of this component, the Sokoto State Investment Corporation is supposed to have an operational website providing credit access guidelines, state investment incentives and a grievance mechanism.

However, FIJ found this website inactive between Wednesday and Saturday. The page returned an internal error message at any attempt to access it in the four days of observation.

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A sub-objective of this project was tied to the continuous availability of the websites of the state’s ministries of justice and agriculture. But unlike other government agencies listed on the Sokoto State Government website, FIJ could not locate websites for the ministries of justice and agriculture. A basic Google search also yielded no relevant results.

The SABER project is part of a $750 million World Bank initiative to help Nigerian states optimise their business environments through transparency and digital access.

According to the World Bank, the “Program Development Objective (PDO) is to improve land administration efficiency, strengthen the regulatory framework for private investment in fiber optic infrastructure, enhance services from investment promotion agencies, and improve transparency in government-to-business services”.

The failure of these websites to function contradicts the guidelines set by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which mandate that government websites must be available every day of the week.

FIJ previously reported that more than half of Nigerian states lacked standard government websites. Sokoto was one of the states with a website below par.