INRODUCTION
The speed with which Information Communication
Technology (ICT) is developing and its impact on socio-economic activities
cannot be overemphasized. It is imperative that Africa is not excluded from the
technological revolution. It is a stark fact that the use of ICT has been
integrated into virtually every facet of commerce, education, governance and
civic activity in developed countries and has become a critical factor in
creating wealth worldwide. Unfortunately in Africa, ICT has barely taken a
foothold. Computer illiteracy and lack of access to ICT are widely recognised
as an increasingly powerful obstacle to the economic, civic and political development
of Africa. According to the UN ICT Task Force, nowhere is the digital divide
more pronounced than in countries of the African continent. Africa is the most
unconnected in an increasing connected world. This is where Nigeria as a
country finds itself.
ICT, according to UNDP, has been defined to include the full range of electronic
technologies and techniques used to manage information and knowledge. The scope
of ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or
receive information electronically in a digital form. For example, personal
computers, digital television, email, robots, etc. So ICT is concerned with the
storage, retrieval, manipulation, transmission or receipt of digital data.
Importantly, it is also concerned with the way these different uses can work
with each other.
The
State of ICT in Nigeria
Ogunsola and Aboyade (2005) observe that Nigeria
had a late start in the use of computers, but the growth in their use has been
quite remarkable. The computer installations are widely distributed in
universities, government departments and agencies, banks, commercial
establishments, and industries. The private sector is also not left out in this
information technological revolution. Nigerian university campuses too are now dotted
with Information Communication technology facilities enabling lecturers and
students to do their researches and other academic works using some form of
available IT devices. They also noted that both the Federal Government of
Nigeria and other international funding agencies are interested in the general
development of ICT in higher education in Nigeria. The Federal Ministry of
Education, for instance, has embarked on the establishment of the National
Virtual (Digital) Library Project. Funding agencies like Carnegie Corporation
of New York are also interested in the Nigerian ICT developmental programme.
The Corporation supported the establishment of scientific databases at the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Partnerships like that between Google and
University of Port Harcourt which aims at Connecting the University of Port
Harcourt to the world’s information database to tap from best practices in
Information and Communication Technology, as well as providing opportunities
that would enable the Institution to be enlisted among 26 other active
institutions in the six countries across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are among
current strides made to bridge the ICT deficiency in the country especially in
our schools.
Mobile cellular services made their first
appearance on the Nigerian market in1993 with a “national” service operated by
NITEL and a smaller Lagos service operated by Mobile Telecommunications
Services (MTS). The two firms, with a joint subscriber base of 12,500, provided
voice services over an analogue E-TACS network, as well as basic value-added
services such as voicemail and paging, from three switches in Lagos, Enugu, and
Abuja. However, in 1995, MTS closed its operations due to failure to pay
interconnection charges to NITEL. M-Tel subsequently emerged as NITEL’s mobile
service provider. The GSM licensing process was cancelled early in 2000 and the
process of auctioning four mobile cellular licences was reopened in December of
that year, after soliciting credible bidders. The winners who emerged out of
this process and settled the agreed licence fees included Econet Wireless
Nigeria, Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) and Communications Nigeria. The new
GSM licences were awarded for a period of five years (renewable) and all
operators can operate in the 900 Mhz and1800Mhz spectrum bands. Whereas they do
provide for a potential upgrading of future networks to GPRS (general packet
radio switching), they do not encompass third generation (3G) networks, which
will probably be auctioned off sometime in the future. The operators do
not foresee a 3G mobile network being developed in Nigeria until the latter
half of the current decade (this has, however, happened). Nigeria’s digital
mobile network has grown significantly since the three companies,
awarded the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) licence in January
2001, began operating in August 2001. According to the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) the GSM network achieved 350,000 connections
within six months of their launch (Telecommunication in Nigeria Overview)
By August 7, 2008, seven years since the
introduction of GSM in Nigeria, the country has witnessed an unprecedented
massive development of telecom infrastructure across the country by the
operators. Indeed, the rate of investment in the telecom sector since 1999
is regarded only second to the oil industry. With over 45
million subscriber base, Nigeria's telecommunication industry is regarded as
the fastest growing in the world. This has opened up huge business
opportunities in the telecom industry. The GSM has also revolutionalized our
business environment as people can transact their businesses from the
comfort of their homes through the use of GSM facilities. At the same time
social relationships have been enhanced. GSM has also empowered the people
economically through creation of mass employment. Today, so many unemployed
people are earning their living through direct and indirect services provided
by telecommunication companies like, selling recharge cards and
GSM accessories. GSM has equally become a major source
of revenue for the government.
The NCC has continued to introduce necessary
measures to enhance the quality of service delivery and steady growth of
the industry. The measures include the introduction of unified licensing, which
made it possible for fixed wireless operators to offer GSM service. Equally
significant is the granting of G3 licenses to some operators. The G3, as it is
popularly called, is the most advanced technology on GSM, which enables the
operators to offer both data and voice services (Udutchay, 2008).
For Nigeria to truly celebrate the October 2017
independence, ICT must be called to the party as it is an engine for
sustainable development in health, education, agriculture, poverty reduction,
wealth creation, employment, security, youth empowerment and other key sectors.
Awe’s assessment of the state of the ICT in the country includes the following,
among others:
- Telecom availability has improved and
Nigeria is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile markets. But the cold,
hard facts are that communications quality is low and ICT penetration is still
insufficient considering Nigeria’s size and population.
- It’s
important to note that important variations in the nature of access determine
telecom impact, for instance, broadband density is particularly low as there is
a great gulf between broadband and voice telephony penetration. Nigeria must
move beyond voice telephony.
- Furthermore, cost is (still) a barrier. Lack of awareness and
access excludes many from the digital environment. In a country where poverty
still walks the streets, ICT remains a stranger. Computing and telecom
resources are unaffordable to the majority.
- Software
is at the heart of the global knowledge economy. Any nation that values its
sovereignty must take software serious. Software opportunities in Nigeria are
not being fully exploited to unleash the potentials of the Nigerian people and
the Nigerian nation. Local developers however face challenges of ignorance and
patronage. Existing software promotion policies have not made much impact.
Bureaucratic sloganeering will not get us anywhere.
- Information security is an area of
concern. Cybercrime, hacking, phishing, ATM fraud and general identity theft
are on the increase. Security of information assets is critical to building
confidence in today’s networked world. Having secure information environments
helps in attracting more investment in ICT.
From this assessment
one could see that there are many problems that that need to be addressed in
order improve the state of ICT in Nigeria and subsequently enable Nigerians to
reap more benefits offered by the ICT, and to enable them compete favourably
with citizens of other nations in economic spheres and other fields of human
endeavour.
Nigeria
in the Networked Readiness Index (NRI)
Networked Readiness Index (NRI) being published
annually by the World Economic Forum measures the propensity for countries to
exploit the opportunities provided by ICT. The NRI is a composite of three
components: the environment for ICT
offered by a given country or community, the readiness of the community’s key
stakeholders (individuals, businesses, and governments) to use ICT, and
finally the usage of ICT amongst these
stakeholders. The index was originally developed by the Information
Technology Group, which worked at Harvard University's Center for International
Development until 2002. The table below shows the ranking of Nigeria among 148
and 143 countries that were included in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 of the
index respectively.
|
COUNTRY
|
2014 – 2015 RANKING OUT OF 148
COUNTRIES
|
2015 – 2016 RANKING OUT OF 143
COUNTRIES
|
|
USA
|
7
|
7
|
|
Denmark
|
13
|
15
|
|
Singapore
|
2
|
1
|
|
Ghana
|
96
|
101
|
|
Malaysia
|
30
|
32
|
|
Nigeria
|
112
|
119
|
|
South
Africa
|
70
|
75
|
|
Zambia
|
110
|
114
|
|
Saudi
Arabia
|
32
|
35
|
|
Uganda
|
115
|
116
|
|
Chad
|
148
|
143
|
|
UK
|
9
|
8
|
|
Finland
|
1
|
2
|
The table indicates the low positions occupied by
Nigeria in 20014-2015 and 2015-2016, which were very low when we consider its
abundant material and human resources.
Also, comparing these results with those for 2008
and 2009 which were 90 and 99 respectively one will notice a steep decline making
me wonder; are we progressing as a nation or retrogressing? Why should a
population as huge as ours, youthful with many possibilities be in such
positions? We certainly must not be doing something right. This independence
gives us an opportunity to reevaluate our stance on ICT if we must be global
players.
Some Studies on the Impact of ICT
on the Economies of Nations
In a study by Sherif, Rateb and El-Tawil (n
d) on the impact of ICT investments on economic development in Egypt, it
has been shown, among others, that the ICT sector in the country, which is
considered a catalyst for economic development, is based on
a multi-stakeholder approach comprising multinationals, the
private sector and the civil society. Their massive investments in the telecom
sector for example, led to a unique growth rate globally in the rate of
mobile user penetration that exceeds 50% (Kamel, 2007 in Sherif, Rateb and
El-Tawil). Moreover, the investment in ICT had also helped in modernizing the
Egypt National Postal Organization (NPO), which was able to modernize and
diversify its activities that include providing societal services, eGovernment
services and financial services. Moreover, the contribution of the telecom
sector has been remarkable to exceeding 4.35 billion US dollars during the
period 2006-2007 (Kamel, 2007 in Sherif, Rateb and El-Tawil, nd).
Piatkowski (2003 in Bongo, nd) also indicates that
in Poland, ICT investment contributed on average 0.47 of a percentage point or
8.9% of GDP growth and12.7% or 0.65 of a percentage point contribution to labor
productivity between1995-2000. During the second half of the 1990s the US and
also some EU Member States (notably Ireland, the Netherlands, and Finland) as
well as some other OECD countries (e.g.US, Australia and Canada), recorded a
resurgence of economic growth and of productivity, fixed or declining inflation
and diminishing unemployment through the use of ICT (Commission of European
Community 2001 cited in Bongo, nd). Bongo (nd) further adds that some study
results
clearly demonstrate
that when the contribution of ICT is greater, so is the real output growth. For
example in the UK, between 1990 and1995 when the contribution of ICT accounted
for 0.43 of a percentage point of economic growth the Real Output Growth for that
period was 2.12, whereas between 1995 and 1999, when the contribution of ICT
was 0.47, the Real Output Growth that occurred during that period was 3.48. As
a result, we could say that ICT drives the economy and also effective ICT
investments do have a positive impact on the economy.
It is worth noting that the use of ICT can also
have negative consequences on the economies of nations, for instance, it can
lead to labour displacement, especially of the unskilled (see The Distortion).
Implications
Drawn for the Nigerian Economy
In a "knowledge driven economy" (KDE) such
as we are now in; one in which economies depend predominantly on the generation
and the exploitation of knowledge for wealth creation, it is expected that we
make more effective use of all types of knowledge and creativity in all manner
of economic activity.
Most of Nigeria’s wealth and power is from the
control of physical assets - land, oil, iron and steel, coal. When, in fact,
major economies around the world are beginning to run on the control of soft
assets like data which is majorly a product of human and intellectual capital.
As Nigeria lags behind in the use of ICT, its performance in relation to the
knowledge based economy will also remain low.
ICTs are expanding the possibilities of developing
economies to participate in international markets. The Internet, for instance,
had changed the way goods and services are produced, delivered, sold and
purchased. ICT has led to an ever growing number of people and businesses
connected digitally. Most Nigerians could not participate in the International
markets from the comfort of their offices and rooms due to erratic supply of
electricity, dearth of adequate ICT facilities and the enabling environment
that supports e-business. Low participation in international market means low
transactions and contribution to the global economy.
The use of ICT empowers weak players in an economy
by providing them with information, communication and knowledge they could not
access before. ICT enhances the competitiveness of small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) they can establish their presence on the Internet and use it
to communicate with suppliers and customers, to search for business information
and to advertise their products. Unfortunately, SMEs in Nigeria do not enjoy
this in a substantial way due to the low state of the ICT of the country, so
their success and contribution to the economy could also remain low.
Even though the use of ICT robs unskilled workers
of their jobs; it increases the efficiency with which economic activities are
undertaken, the use of digital technology in printing (talk of the 3D printings
of these days), radio and TV broadcast, photography, for example, increases
productivity, so a country that is not very fast in adopting these technologies
will not have a fast growing economy.
Conclusion
The current state of ICT in Nigeria has positive
and negative implications for the Nigerian economy. The increase in number of
businesses and job opportunities offered by the ICT in the country, which is
quite enormous, is part of the positive implications. However, the emphasis on
the negative implications is due largely to the performance of Nigeria in the
use of the ICT which leaves much to be desired and probably needs a jab to
kick-start it.
Finally, much as the economic implications stated
above is not an exhaustive one; as more implications will crop up with the
introduction of more ICT-related innovations and new ICT devices into the
global arena and Nigerian market, may I state again, categorically, that stake
holders use this auspicious event of the celebration of our 57th
year of independence to do a proper stocktaking as to where we are coming from,
where we ought to be now and where we should be in a future date. We need to
reevaluate our priorities as a nation and do the needful to move the nation
from this doldrums.
HAPPY 57TH INDEPENDENCE DAY
CELEBRATION!!
Everything is drifting
around Technology..... Don't be left behind.