Nigeria ranks 104 in global technology use

By BusinessNews Staff on April 14, 2011

Nigeria finished 104 in the study’s comparison of 138 countries that make up 99 per cent of the World’s total gross domestic product.

Mauritius and South Africa lead in the Sub-Saharan Africa region , having placed 47th and 61st in the global ranking.

The report entitled The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, placed Sweden first followed by Singapore, Finland and Switzerland.

The 411-page report, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York, is based on readiness and adoption of technologies by governments, people, and businesses.

It is also based on an index of 71 economic and social indicators, as diverse as new patents, mobile phone subscriptions, property rights, software piracy and availability of venture capital.

Nigeria was ranked low on many measures that affect economic competitiveness.

For example it ranked 112th on infrastructure, especially in its human resources dimension, and ICT usage is still far below international best practices, especially for the business sector (81st) and the government (123).

Nigeria also lagged behind on conducive market (94th) and political and regulatory environment (107th), compared to remarkable showings from Mauritius (26th and 33rd respectively) and South Africa (25th and 23rd respectively).

Majority of countries in Africa lag in the bottom half of the Network Readiness Index (NRI) rankings, even though many countries have started to leverage more and more on ICT to improve efficiency and reach out more citizens.

The report notes that “even though ICT penetration rates have soared in the region over recent years, boosted by mobile telephony, sub-Saharan Africa does not seem to have progressed as much and as fast as other areas of the world.

“Underdeveloped infrastructure, inefficient markets, opaque regulatory environments, inadequate educational standards, and widespread poverty are powerful obstacles against a more extensive and efficient use of new technologies for increased development and prosperity in the region,’’ the report said.

The report stressed that good education fundamentals and high levels of technological readiness and innovation are essential engines of growth needed to overcome the current economic crisis.

The yearly reports began in 2001, after the collapse of the Internet bubble.

The World Economic Forum (WEF), based in Davos, Switzerland, holds that technological progress is the principal driver of innovation, productivity and efficiency.

“Innovation and ICT have proven a crucial lever for long term growth, with countless social and economic benefits and the capacity to significantly improve people life around the world,’’ Alan Marcus, Senior Director and head of

Information Technology and Telecommunications WEF, said in a statement announcing this year’s report.

Source : The Nation