article · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Digital economy development drives sustainable development primarily by transforming the public sector, rather than through direct impact alone. An analysis of national and international data spanning 2000 to 2024 shows that digital expansion significantly fosters public sector modernisation over the long term. In turn, public sector transformation exerts a strong positive influence on sustainable development outcomes. Once this mediating role of public sector reform is accounted for, the direct impact of digital economy development becomes statistically non-significant, confirming mediation. These relationships demonstrate long-term stability and equilibrium across the studied period. Consequently, regional policy frameworks, such as those for Kano State, require digital infrastructure investments to be paired directly with governance reforms. Critical intervention areas include expanding digital public services, upgrading civil service capacity, rolling out broadband, strengthening cybersecurity, implementing electronic revenue collection, and deploying targeted inclusive digital programmes.
Investing in digital technology does not automatically deliver sustainable development on its own. For digital infrastructure to translate into broader societal progress, governments must modernise public administration. Integrating digital tools into public services, civil service training, and revenue collection ensures that public investments effectively improve governance and reach underserved populations, including rural communities, youth, women, and small businesses.
The findings provide actionable guidance for public sector administrators and enterprise software providers developing civic technologies. The evidence points to immediate application opportunities in electronic revenue administration, cybersecurity solutions, broadband deployment, and digital public service platforms. Because the findings stem from macro-level econometric modeling, this work represents early-stage policy and strategy research rather than a field-tested commercial product.
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Digitalization is widely regarded as a catalyst for inclusive growth and improved governance; however, the mechanisms through which it promotes sustainable development in Nigeria remain insufficiently examined. This study examines whether public sector transformation mediates the relationship between digital economy development and sustainable development. Annual data covering 2000–2024 were compiled from national and international databases and analyzed using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) error-correction framework. The results indicate that the development of the digital economy has a positive and statistically significant long-run effect on public sector transformation (β = 0.618, p < .001), whereas public sector transformation positively affects sustainable development (β = 0.767, p < .001). The direct effect of digital economy development was statistically non-significant after the introduction of the mediator, whereas the estimated indirect effect was 0.474, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.224–0.730. The negative and significant error-correction terms indicate convergence toward long-run equilibrium, and the diagnostic tests support the models’ adequacy and stability. The findings indicate that Kano State should combine digital infrastructure investment with public-sector reform. Priorities include digital public services, workforce capacity building, broadband expansion, cybersecurity, electronic revenue administration, and inclusive digital programs for women, young people, rural communities, and small businesses.[1]
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DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21933875
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