Having missed out on the industrial and agricultural revolution, this is the time for Nigeria to jump on the bandwagon of the new digital revolution taking place in developed nations, experts say.
Nigeria, which is immersed in wealth of knowledge and full of young, brooding tech geeks, is being tasked by international community to use information technology and the internet to achieve economic growth.
“We have realised that road, water and electricity are no longer enough for economic growth in any country and we have noticed that the internet is essential in achieving economic growth,” Ann Mei Chang, chief innovation officer at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), says.
Research on the impact of broadband on GDP growth from the International Telecommunications Unit (ITU) shows that in low- and middle-income economies, a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration yields an additional 1.38 percent in GDP growth.
Although broadband has become a priority of the 21st Century economy and its power to transform and catalyse the economy and social growth cannot be overemphasised, analysts say there are concerns over the slow pace of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NBP), which may not meet the supposed 80 percent population target of wireless mobile broadband coverage by 2017, as formally proposed.
“Our GDP is falling, we are in a recession and there is an opportunity to use technology to grow the economy. But sadly, work has not even started in the North Central and Lagos regions that have been licensed for broadband roll out.”
Speaking with Nigerian technology leaders and young entrepreneurs at the weekend, Edward J. Markey, the ranking Democratic Party senator/member on the Africa and Global Health Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who led a congressional delegation to Lagos, made remarks on his efforts to expand internet access and digital literacy to enhance economic development, education, and good governance in developing countries.
Markey emphasised that internet connectivity and successful economic development are inextricably linked in the 21st Century’s global economy.
According to Markey, “it is essential that the United States helps as a partner to make sure that Africa, especially Nigeria, where all the technological brain comes from, does not miss out on the digital revolution taking place in the world today. Nigeria needs to learn from mistakes made in the US and move in the right direction for internet penetration because for every 10 percent broadband penetration, the GDP of that country increases by about 2 percent.”
Although Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, has continuously reiterated Federal Government’s determination to move forward with the NBP, even as he re-emphasises the need for the country to join the comity of nations driven by digital technology, industry players lament on the snail pace of broadband penetration in the country.
Lanre Ajayi, former president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), told BusinessDay that the progress recorded so far in the implementation of the NBP was very slow and unimpressive.
According to Ajayi, “the plan, which aimed to increase broadband penetration in Nigeria from 6 percent in 2013 to 13 percent in 2018, has only been able to increase penetration to about 8 percent in 2016, just two years to 2018.”
He said that “there is a general poor supervision of the plan implementation and this is affecting the growth of our GDP.”
Markey has introduced proposed legislation in the US Congress entitled ‘Driving Innovation and Growth in Internet Technology and Launching Universal Access to the Global Economy (DIGITAL AGE) Act,’ aimed at promoting public-private partnerships, and expanding internet access with policy tools encouraging improved support for investors, strengthened and shared infrastructure, better spectrum allocation, and creation of public internet access facilities and affordable devices.
