CWL Newsletter, July - Sept., 98. Pg 3
THE ROLE OF INTERNET CONNECTIVITY IN NIGERIA
ByCHRIS O. AHIAKWO
ABSTRACTAccess to information is an essential tool for a meaningful development of any nation. Internet seems to have provided an avenue for the developing nations of the world to accelerate their developmental growth. A society without adequate facilities for information gathering is living in ignorance. Such society will no doubt be lagging in technology and other fields of human endeavors. Life in such a place will be dominated with fear, superstition and poverty.
This paper examines the role Internet connectivity in Nigeria will play in her developmental process especially in this information age. It also x-rays the barriers to Internet connectivity in the country.
Information revolution of the 1990s, like the industrial revolution of the MEDIVAL AGE, which changed man from mere plucking of fruits for food to an inventor of machinery and farming implements, is changing information gathering and storage from the traditional way of running library services and information centers to a more sophisticated electronic network. The new technique, popularly known as INTERNET is the backbone of the Information Revolution of the 1990s. It provides facilities such as E-mail, World Wide Web (www), Information Retrieval, Commerce, News, and e.t.c. to the user. Advancement in exploring the use of computer and telephone services led to the development of the Internet.
INTERNET however, accelerates the exchange of information between nations, more importantly between users. It facilitates the search for solutions to national problems such as education, health, environment, etc and stimulates the developmental challenges of a nation (especially that of a developing nation like Nigeria).
Nevertheless, the growth of Internet literacy in Nigeria has been very slow and the coverage is very small. The cause is traceable to lack of technical know-how, telecommunication infrastructure, awareness, finance and competitive regulatory policies.
Ironically, industrial revolution started in Africa and got properly developed in Europe and America, today the very continent that started industrialization still has her nations underdeveloped; whereas the information age (information revolution of the 1990s) whose origin is traceable to the United States of America is growing in leaps and bounds in Europe and America with very insignificant presence in the developing nations of Africa.
Technological break through of a nation depends on the level of education and orientation of the citizenry. The rewards occurring from education therefore include knowledge, greater employment opportunities, higher income and better future prospects. Improvement of one's environment depends on the knowledge of that environment which is a function of education.
Information systems have supporting roles in education especially in the area of research. In developed countries, the Internet is the working tool of researchers. They use it to cross-pollinate ideas globally. Connectivity to the Internet and proper tapping of the facilities provided by it will enhance the educational development of the nation. Educational materials and programmes from the developed countries can be easily obtained from the Internet and adopted by the user. Besides, it provides a means of up-dating one's knowledge on any discipline on a daily basis.
3.0 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Internet is a catalyst for national development, it provides a medium for exchange of technical and scientific ideas. This function is very relevant for developing nations. By the use of Internet facilities, development experiences in one country can be of use in other countries. The important thing required of the recipient countries to do is to discover similar projects and relevant information that could be of use to them. Basically, both knowledge and exchange of ideas drive the world technology and economy. Internet offers a medium through which ideas and information can be easily cross-pollinated to enhance technological advancement of man. The facilities provided by it can be used to motivate the developmental challenges of any developing nation.
The banking industry in Nigeria is expanding greatly. This expansion necessitates the transfer of money between banks. In some cases, the bank may even be in different cities. Whether the banks are in the same city or not, business transaction involving payment by cash or cheque involves risk bearing by both parties. The risk of carrying cash about for payment and the risk of accepting a cheque that may not be cleared are what buyers and sellers face respectively in a developing country like Nigeria.
The only way out of this risk is connectivity to Internet. With the Internet, the two parties can conclude their business transaction without necessarily seeing or knowing themselves physically. Even the issue of going to the bank to deposit or cash cheque is completely eliminated. All they could do is to communicate through the Internet and advice their respective banks.
3.2 HEALTH
Medical science has grown tremendously in developed countries while it is yet at its infancy in Nigeria. What is needed most in our health institutions now is connectivity to Internet. This will keep our medical practitioners in constant touch with the latest development in medicine. Usually, before discoveries in any discipline are published for public consumption, they are flashed on the Internet for comments from experts in that field. This makes those who are connected to the Internet to be more current in events than their counterparts who are not connected.
4.0 MAIN BARRIERS TO INTERNET CONNECTIVITY IN NIGERIA
The main barriers to Internet connectivity in Nigeria can be categorized as follows
Lack of Technical Know-How/Awareness:
Computer literacy in Nigeria is very low. The use of Internet facilities depends on one's technical know-how on the computer. Presently, in the industrialized nations, computer is a household name everywhere. While in Nigeria, not all educated Nigerians are computer literate. Most computer literates even have their knowledge restricted to the use of the computer as a word processor. This automatically means that Internet literacy is almost not in existence. An estimated number of Internet literates is about 5% of the total population. Of this percentage, 20% are Nigerians in the very high-income bracket, 30% are from National Companies and 50% from the multi-national companies.
Lack of Adequate Telecommunication Infrastructure:
Most telephone services in the country are analog. They are very unreliable and often very noisy with obsolete equipment. Presently, the government is making efforts to enhance telecommunication services for her citizenry. Increasing digital networks as well as wireless communication services are producing useful results.
Poverty Level of the Citizenry:
Poverty level in Nigeria is high. Connectivity of individuals to the global village (Internet) is very expensive for the average Nigerian. He needs close to N100,000 ($1163) to purchase a computer and about N64,000 ($744) to install telephone services excluding the cost of installing Internet facilities.
Internet connectivity in Nigeria will only be a reality when the three tiers of government (Federal, State and Local Governments) join the awareness campaign. This is because the campaign is capital incentive. It involves seminars, installation of effective telecommunication systems, encouragement of computer literacy from primary schools, provision of Internet Service Providers (ISP) and a regulatory policy.
Meanwhile, all research centres and universities in the country should be linked to the Internet.
Access to information is an essential tool for a meaningful development of any nation. It eradicates fear, poverty and superstition in the society.
For the country to move forward technologically, at a faster rate, there is need for the nation to be adequately connected to the global village provided by Internet facilities.
REFERENCES
Nigeria Internet Group News, May/ June 1998 Vol. 1 No 1
New Millennium. Proceedings of the National Engineering Conference of NSE, Nov./Dec. 1998.
Conference.
Sept. 1998 Vol. 4, No. 9
CWL Newsletter, July - Sept., 98. Pg 3
