Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting Big Data Governance Maturity in Nigerian Public Sector Organisations

Big data governance is an emerging management discipline with significant implications for the quality, security, and strategic use of public sector data, yet its maturity determinants in Nigerian government agencies have not been empirically examined, representing a gap in both IS governance and African e-government research. This study empirically investigates the factors affecting big data governance maturity in Nigerian public sector organisations. A cross-sectional analytical survey was applied to 300 senior IT and data management professionals from 30 federal ministries, departments, and agencies in Abuja, selected through purposive stratified sampling. A validated big data governance maturity scale measuring policy completeness, organisational accountability structures, data quality management, access control governance, and data lifecycle management was administered alongside measures of top management ICT commitment, regulatory compliance pressure, and institutional data literacy. PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4 tested the structural model. Available big data governance literature from Nigerian public sector contexts identifies absence of a national government data strategy and unclear data ownership assignments as the most critical governance maturity inhibitors. The IT Governance Framework by Weill and Ross and the Data Management Body of Knowledge provide the analytical basis. Findings confirm that top management ICT commitment is the strongest predictor of governance maturity, while regulatory compliance pressure has a significant but weaker effect. The study provides empirical evidence missing from the Sub-Saharan Africa public sector big data governance literature. Recommendations address a NITDA-coordinated national government data governance framework and agency chief data officer mandates. Keywords: big data governance, public sector, Nigeria, maturity, federal agencies.