Nigeria And The Internet: Broadband Expansion For Growth

Our economy struggles with the use of Microsoft office packages while the world has gone into the clouds. We watch with sadness tugging at our hearts as youths visit computer training schools to learn the use of basic office packages and mostly prepared themselves for a better job and be competitive in the market place.

But the world is moving into the cloud where the use of goggle documents and other applications ridicule their efforts in a globalized world. Such is the racy pace of development that we are worried at whatever strategic plans are in place to help us take the leap into the 21^st century.

While the burning issues as fiscal government, youth and democracy and road infrastructure collectively keep our mouths busy, internet and broadband expansion seem hardly any top priority.  The internet erases geographical and socio-economic boundaries. It climaxes all as an enabler of commerce with its spurring innovations and prosperity that intimidate all the accomplishments of the past century.

Also, early use of internet was for email and web browsing while sophisticated companies and countries are utilizing the internet vast potential to transforming the way business and governance works.

Critically, the role of communications infrastructure remains strategic in all of this. It has highlighted the hugely stark urban-rural divides in the use of the internet technology especially at homes. The telcos/MNOs still struggle poorly to meet consumers demand for quality service delivery.

Importantly, we know our gap. Experts have attributed the challenge to biased technical change which means that new technologies can thrive only in places with skilled workers who know how to use them or with the right city advantages which are better communications infrastructure, denser labour market, and tougher competition.  These are hardly available in remote area.

Finally, we suggest to our lawmakers that they work out moralities to subsidize the expansion of the internet into poor and isolated regions. We compel the executive arm to create a stimulus package to allocate funds for broadband expansion, strengthen education and grow our local and national capacity to play and win in today’s demanding global village. 21^st century broadband infrastructure is the next black gold.