Nigeria and Broadband Technology

Group Research Project: Nigeria

Amara Conteh

Paul Niemann

Ashley Roush

STS330

Dr. Patience Akpan

Nigeria is a federal republic located in Western Africa. Approximately twice the size of California, it is the continent's most populous country. Nigeria's economic future is uncertain, as high petroleum revenues were lost due to disorganization and corruption ("CIA world factbook," 2012). The improvements in the world today can be partially attributed to the introduction of new technologies, specifically with the invention of the PC and the internet. The invention of the internet has given an edge to companies and most importantly has empowered individuals to connect from distant locations. This connectivity is what Thomas L. Friedman referred to as “flat-world platform” (Friedman, p. 10). Though the rest of the African continent has not fully connected, yet, Nigeria is rapidly expanding its connectivity to this flat-world platform through the intense competition amongst emerging internet service providers, who are now able to deliver wireless broadband. According to an article by Telecompaper, the introduction of wireless internet has made Nigeria the top internet user in African with 45 million users. As said by Friedman, the “too disempowered” is a factor that limits the flattening process (p. 546). This means that there are people who are well aware of this individual empowerment and want to engage but lack the tools needed. The Nigerian government, together with internet service providers is now trying to expand broadband access to remote places.

Nigeria stands as a good example of a country that is embracing information and communication technology for economic growth (Sim, 2010). This has been achieved by advancing its telecommunications infrastructure and services (Sylvester, 2011). Nigeria has realized how valuable knowledge is in this globalization era, and as such, has taken appropriate strides to become competitive. On...