Improving Internet penetration

When fully utilized, it can make significant impact on business, with applications such as e-commerce, e-banking, e-payments, e-health, e-learning, and e-government. The challenge is that most Nigerians are wary of processes that are impersonal. Although service providers claim that mobile phone subscription has passed the 100-million mark, Internet usage for other applications other than telecoms […]

When fully utilized, it can make significant impact on business, with applications such as e-commerce, e-banking, e-payments, e-health, e-learning, and e-government. The challenge is that most Nigerians are wary of processes that are impersonal. Although service providers claim that mobile phone subscription has passed the 100-million mark, Internet usage for other applications other than telecoms and automated teller machine (ATM) banking is still low. Moreover, the large number of subscribers could be a misleading and unreliable statistic, because many individual have multiple lines each. The cumbersome process of recovering a lost line causes many subscribers to prefer the easier alternative of purchasing a new one.
Low Internet penetration has several causal factors, including the national educational system that does not make computer studies compulsory. While it is considered normal that many older citizens may struggle to embrace the computer age, it cannot excuse the existence of outdated non-ICT-compliant syllabi that the majority of university students graduate on. Because of this deficiency, the youths that today may be adept at using the computer spend more time on social media than understanding their more serious and productive applications.
There are no government sponsored adult education classes to make the older generation familiar with the Internet.   Of the three segments to Internet delivery, issues with the national backbone are gradually being addressed with the optic fibre network. There are however serious challenges with the last mile, which is the connectivity between the internet service providers and homes or institutions. Nigeria’s Internet sector has been hindered both by the unstable power supply and by the country’s underdeveloped and unreliable fixed-line infrastructure, severely hindering broadband access. Nigeria is among the biggest and fastest growing telecoms markets in Africa, attracting huge foreign investments. It is therefore vital for the economy that the country keys into the global network sooner rather than later.
 Unfortunately in this drive, many will be left behind because of aversion to the Internet due to the multiplicity of fraudulent activities associated with it. There are some teething problems as well, as when cash dispensing machines debit accounts without paying out cash. Customers have often complained of large amounts being debited from their accounts without authorization due to e-banking. INEC consistently has problems with its computerized voters’ register. Federal Road Safety Commission cannot issue driving licenses and number plates efficiently.
Practically every problematic government application of the Internet is linked to inefficiency of the public service, making it almost a herculean task to convince the ordinary Nigerian that it is a worthwhile exercise.  Poor connectivity is a major problem. Mrs Johnson should not just lament this fact, but introduce measures to address the problem.
What the government can do to vastly improve Internet penetration is to introduce robust policies, including making to the Internet access easy and cheap. Public offices and commercial outlets like hotels should as a matter of policy install WI-FI and hotspots for access to persons within range of such premises. The service providers frequently put out advertisements and promotional messages, instead of concentrating on their core areas of quality service delivery and customer care. The government should also consider introducing a free mass computer literacy programme to accelerate computer literacy and access among the populace.
  It is vitally important that Nigeria aligns itself with the ever-expanding information technology highway.