Towards Enhancing Citizens Engagement: A Review of Parliamentary Websites in the 36 State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria

Parliaments represent the interests of citizens, and so remain critical to democracy and good governance. Therefore, for effective citizens’ engagement, ensuring online presence, and enhancing transparency of internal processes, parliaments’ leverage on Information and Communication Technology is of paramount importance globally. This study investigates the contents of official parliamentary websites in the 36 State Houses of Assembly of Nigeria to determine how they facilitate effective engagement between citizens and their elected representatives. The methodology used includes manual testing based on categories and critical sub-factors in line with Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Guidelines. Desk research was also used to determine technical challenges for the implementation of e-parliament. The findings reveal that only 36% of the State Assemblies have official websites. Five are fully functional, and just five state legislatures effectively utilize interactive tools to re-engage the citizens. Results show that 58% of the state legislatures use social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. The authors conclude that in enhancing civic participation, state legislatures need to provide a relatively open, more responsive, accessible, and interactive website while extending social medial tools

User Engagement and Abandonment of mHealth: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Mobile health (mHealth) apps have great potential to improve health outcomes. Given that mHealth apps have become ubiquitous, there is limited focus on their abandonment. Data concerning crucial metrics, including reasons for adoption and discontinued use, are limited. This study aims to gain broad insights into utilization of mHealth and game-like features promoting user engagement. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 209 mHealth users worldwide. The 17-item survey assessed sociodemographics, as well as the key motivators for mHealth uptake and discontinued use. Our findings show that sports and fitness activity tracking were the most common categories of health apps, with most users engaging with them at least several times a week. Interestingly, the most downloaded mHealth apps among younger adults include MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, Nike Run Club, and Samsung Health. Critical drivers of abandonment of mHealth apps were amotivation, loss of interest, and experimenting with different apps to identify the most suitable tool. Additionally, the financial cost of mHealth apps is crucial, with most participants advocating for free or more affordable apps. The study findings suggest that while many individuals utilize mHealth, several factors drive their abandonment. Moreover, data indicate that mHealth developers need to consider gamification strategies to sustain user commitment, as well as psychological variables, such as intrinsic motivation