Nigeria Development Gateway

Nigerias window to the World

DELIVERABLE REPORT

PRELIMINARY E-READINESS ASSESSMENT

Nigeria Development Gateway collaborative

74 Adeniyi Jones Avenue. Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: [234] 1-4972942. www.NigeriaDevelopmentGateway.com Email: cokpaleke@yahoo.com

Table of Contents
ABBREVIATIONS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.0 1.1

INTRODUCTION E-Readiness/E-Needs Assessments Benefits to the Nigeria Development Gateway Previous e-Readiness/e-Needs Studies on Nigeria FINDINGS OF ASSESSMENTS IN THE COUNTRY Network Assess Assessment Network Infrastructure Statistics Service and Support Internet Availability Networked Learning Assessment School Access to ICT Enhancing Education with ICT Developing the ICT Workforce Network Society People and Organization online Locally Relevant Content ICT Use in Everyday Life Utilization of Telephones Utilization of the Internet Ways to Access the Internet and Most popular Topics ICT in the Workplace Private Sector ICT Use Banking Sector IT Sector Telecommunications Petroleum/Gas Sector Public Sector ICT Use Non-Governmental Organization

1.2 2.0
2.1 2.1(i) (ii) (iii) 2.2 (i) (ii) (iii) 2.3 (i) (ii) (iii) (a) (b) (c) (iv) (a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (b) (c)

2.4 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (a) (b) (c) 2.5 (i) (ii)

Networked Economy ICT Employment Opportunities Business-to- Consumer (B2C) Electronic Commerce Business-to-Business (B2B) Rating E-Government Federal State Local Governments Network Policy Assessment Telecommunication Regulation ICT Trade Policy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study is in line with the Nigeria Development Gateway initiative and focus which is to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to aid socioeconomic development in Nigeria. As a first and important step, a country level ICT assessment and review of e-Readiness was undertaken by the Nigeria Development Gateway collaborative between February and April, 2004. This assessment was complemented by studies on ICT use, access, awareness/literacy etc conducted on behalf of the National Information Technology Development Agency (N.I.T.D.A) by external consultants (NSL Consultants), other studies conducted on the country by Compumetrics Solutions Ltd. and from collections of information and data from selected national news papers, online sources, questionnaires etc. These sources provided a full and clear picture of Nigerias ICT accessibility, connectivity, general awareness, e-Needs, local digital content, as well as the countrys IT policy and regulatory framework. From the studies conducted, it is found that the countrys ICT infrastructure, accessibility and connectivity, vary greatly from area to area. For instance, while the big urban cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt etc as well as most of the state capitals (in the 36 state structure of Nigeria) enjoy, in most cases, readily available and to some extent fairly affordable internet access and access to some form of Telecommunications infrastructure and/or mobile wireless penetration, the smaller, suburban and rural areas by contrast, have very poor or little or no access to telecommunications infrastructure, little or no shared facilities for telecommunication access, erratic and mostly poor mobile wireless penetration and very poor or non-existent internet access. However, there are ongoing and concerted efforts by the Nigerian Federal Government to commence provision of cheap telephone services through the recent launch of a rural telephony program for the country, in co-operation with the government of China. This program has already been flagged off with the Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory being the first take-off point and subsequently to be spread across 343 (Three Hundred and Forty Three) local government areas of the country. With this take off of rural telephony in the country, other value-added services like internet, e-mail etc. will penetrate to the rural communities. The Nigeria Development Gateway will definitely be in a position to play a role using these facilities to provide services such as distance learning (e-Learning), Telemedicine, dissemination of relevant information to the rural folk in these rural areas. It is very pertinent to state here that the ICT sector has witnessed tremendous and unprecedented growth since its deregulation which started from the year 1992. The sector was further liberalized and became more populace-friendly from 1999 till date. In fact,

as a result of the countrys diversity and peculiarities, and huge potentials, it has become a very attractive market for investors in the ICT sector, particularly telecommunications companies such as MTN, V-Mobile (formerly Econet Nigeria), home grown Globacoms GLOMOBILE, and government owned MTEL, which have joined NITEL which had for over 36 years enjoyed a monopoly of the market. These companies have been constantly and progressively expanding their networks although, due to lack of or poor infrastructure most of them have had to build or provide their own infrastructure and the resultant effect has been that the cost of telecommunication and allied services such as internet etc. are still relatively high. In terms of costs, studies show that Nigerias Internet tariff is over 300% of the gross national per capita income. But no doubt deregulation has brought about a tremendous growth of the sector with Nigerias telephone lines growing from 500,000 lines to an unprecedented 6 million lines in the last 5 years. There are also numerous local companies which provide Internet Service across the country. In this preliminary assessment it is difficult to state or give a categorical estimation of the number of Internet users in the country, due partly to the absence of reliable data and indicators on this but we hope to improve on this in our final report. However we have based our measurement of Internet spread findings in this report, on the Internet Access Points, rather than the number of Internet accounts, as this does not reflect the true picture of Internet utilization or the number of users, which in itself, is difficult to quantify. We can also estimate that a vast majority of private internet users access the Internet through Internet cafes (or cybercafs as they are locally called), while others do so through dial-up facilities and a small percentage made up of mostly corporate bodies and very few private individuals, through VSAT link-up provided by ISPs. Among the rural populace in the country however, Internet access is practically nonexistent. Most do not even know what it means. Regarding this apparent draw back, the Nigeria Development Gateway intends to combine the use of old or early ICT, with the newer more modern ICT, by using radio broadcasting, video, as well as the print media, as effective ways to reach the rural population and disseminate relevant and beneficial information and news on health care issues (e.g. HIV/Aids, vaccinations, hygiene, child-care etc); poverty reduction efforts by the private sector, government bodies or civil society organizations; market information etc. In general terms while ICT human resource base in Nigeria can be said to be still at infancy stage (but growing), in the urban areas, its huge potentials are yet to be taken full advantage of. On the other hand as earlier highlighted, in the rural and sub-urban areas, (which actually form the majority in this diverse and vast country), due to economic constraints, ICT use, awareness and literacy is still very poor and in most cases nonexistent. This, we found, restricts and limits the wide-spread application of ICT. Majority of ICT users in the country, have at several forums and through several media, called for thorough and comprehensive ICT human resource development. Presently, ICT education in Nigeria exists only in tertiary educational institutions, private training institutions and perhaps a negligible number of elitist privately owned primary/secondary educational institutions, mainly patronized by the elite in the country who form a very 5

small minority among the total population of the country. The fees in these private training institutions and private primary/secondary educational institutions are usually very prohibitive and not affordable to the ordinary urban folk and are definitely out of the reach of the poor rural folk. Bearing in mind the fact that Primary and Secondary level education form the basic foundation for knowledge, educational development and studies at higher level needed to produce ICT professionals and that ICT literacy can be promoted more rapidly in the country if its learning is made more accessible to a greater, ordinary public, we are of the view that the Nigeria Development Gateway portal will be a very useful platform and medium for e-Learning. It will also be a very effective platform for e-Government, e-Business, creating public awareness and enlightenment on civil society activities, a platform for feedback from the public on government policies, socio-economic activities and programs through e-Discussions. There is currently a dearth of useful, practically relevant local content on the Internet in respect of Nigeria and as a result interest is limited to a small percentage of the populace. We believe this can be improved if local content, which the people can immediately identify with, is provided on the Internet. The primary area of focus of the Nigeria Development Gateway is the Nigerian, particularly the ordinary urban folk, the rural, grass roots Nigerian, the business entrepreneur, corporate Nigeria etc). We will therefore focus and aim at generating, disseminating and providing local content for our primary users and for the use of outside bodies seeking useful information on Nigeria, through the NDG portal. The portal will also be a very useful and effective medium for building very strong, viable online and offline network of virtual communities and users.

1. INTRODUCTION: With the deregulation of the Information and Communication Technologies sector in Nigeria, from 1992 and more effectively from 1999, ICT use has recorded impressive growth in the country. In this era of globalization, this is a good development as ICT have become very key components in the emergence of new economies of high reckoning. Although Nigeria is a country seen as having very great promise and potential, especially when its oil resources, mineral deposits and other natural resources are taken into consideration, it is still lagging very much behind in the global effort to become part of the new, digital economy. Whereas the trend in the developed countries is that the info-technological revolution is boosting growth of knowledge communities and societies, co-opting the civil societies, private sector, government, private individuals etc, by contrast, in a developing country such as Nigeria a vast majority, due to poverty, lack of access or opportunities, poor infrastructure etc, are still very much excluded from the virtual opportunities provided by ICT. This exclusion and missed opportunities have continuously been a frustrating bane in the nations effort to bridge the gap in its human development quotient. Since ICT has been proven as a very effective tool for distance learning, poverty alleviation, dissemination of information on health care issues/services, job creation, etc. it is very obvious that its use as a medium for the promotion of socio-economic development in Nigeria will go a long way in nudging the country towards realizing its potentials among the community of nations. Drawing from the above, an e-Readiness and e-Needs assessment of Nigeria becomes necessary in order to measure gauge and assess the countrys capacity to participate actively in the digital economy. It will also aid the Nigeria Development Gateway team in the design of its portal especially in the area of provision of relevant and useful content, provision of a useful, representative portal to an international audience as a Gateway to the local community (a window of Nigeria to the world). An e-Readiness Assessment of Nigeria will contain relevant data based on use, access to and awareness of ICT products and services within the Nigerian economy and will serve as a basis for ICT initiatives of the Nigeria Development Gateway project, its targets and planned projections. It will also identify areas and provide clues as to ways in which the

countrys further development can be accomplished and poverty reduced or alleviated, through the use of modern ICT. The assessment will equally be useful to the NDG team in its eventual formulation of strategies (national, regional, state and local government levels etc.) for its work together with its current and future partners. All over the world, ICT driven economic growth has proven very effective in increasing productivity, creating jobs and opportunities as well as increasing income, among other things. ICT provides great opportunities to enhance the restructuring of the socioeconomic equation thereby shifting income equity among nations and also provides new channels for rural communities, intermediaries and development organizations to collaborate relate and network. Methodology Employed: The methodology employed in this e-Readiness Assessment is the Harvard methodology. This method assesses parameters grouped under the following categories: Network Access, Networked Learning, Networked Society, Networked Economy and Network Learning, Networked Society, Networked Economy and Network Policy. In other words ICT infrastructure, utilization of ICT in Education, Society, Economy, and the ICT related policy. We however tried to broaden or expand the scope of our study to analyze some particular categories in broader details in order to have some idea and assessment of information security, human capital and e-Business climate necessary for any ICT program of this nature to succeed and thrive. 1.1 e-Readiness/e-Needs Assessment Benefits To The Nigeria Development Gateway The proposed Nigeria Development Gateway initiative indeed has great potential to assist, aid and rapidly promote Nigerias development drive, by providing a platform for unprecedented broad and far-reaching collaboration and networking among the populace on the one hand and also between regional, national and international entities on the other hand, as well as with other currently existing and future Country Development Gateways. The NDG Gateway will most definitely enable, as well as empower stakeholders and Nigerians generally, to use the Internet as an assessable and cost-effective tool for knowledge sharing, job creation, e-Business, e-Government and e-Learning, as well as for the creation of virtual communities etc. Looking to the future, it is very clear that the long term strategy for social and economic development in Nigeria should lay great emphasis on creation and growth of knowledge societies in the country. There should be a critical appraisal of the nations skilled human resources in ICT as a strategic imperative for wealth creation, sustainable growth, development and global competitiveness. Urgent attention should also be paid to the empowerment of the ICT industry/sector and the creation of an enabling environment, to ensure the countrys effective participation in the emerging knowledge/digital economy as well as its active involvement in the ongoing worldwide info-tech revolution, with the transformation of the country to a complete information society as the ultimate goal. The

creation of an enabling environment will also earn for the country a necessary brain gain, rather than the existing brain drain, as numerous Nigerian ICT professionals in the Diaspora, are creating innovations in international ICT circles. Examples abound in this regard but brief mention must be made of Philip Emeagwali, whose feats in supercomputing are world renowned. He is the most searched-for scientist on the Internet and designed the program and formula for the fastest computer on earth. The Connection Machine, a supercomputer, can perform 3.1 billion calculations per second. Today, the world as a whole is able to use search engines, such as Yahoo, because of this Nigerian who won the Gordon Prize of 1989 and is to date, still making outstanding contributions to science, computing and invention. In order to achieve all that has been enumerated above and also implement the aforementioned strategy for long term socio-economic growth and development, it is very important and necessary to assess Nigerias readiness for such a transformation, highlighting in the process, likely obstacles to the goal of development of the country through the use of ICT. The assessment will also identify ways to leverage the countrys development and identify areas where non-portal projects may come into play etc. 1.2 Previous e-Readiness/e-Needs Studies on Nigeria Very little exists in the form of baseline studies and statistics on ICT in Nigeria. A NITDA sponsored survey for Nigeria was recently completed by NSL Consultants, but it is yet to be officially released. An earlier study was equally carried out by Compumetrics Solutions Ltd. It must be stated that financial constraints limited the scope of the present study and as a result limited total coverage of the entire country mass (bearing in mind the countrys vast dimension and size). However, areas were very carefully selected in some cases, and their assessment used in a representative capacity for certain regions. Apart from desk research from published reports, this study entailed distribution of questionnaires to thousands of individuals randomly picked from all works of life and will in its final stage include input from stakeholders in private and public establishments, government ministries, and educational institutions across different parts of the country. The questionnaires distributed were used to find out the status of ICT, the extent of its use and application etc. The contents of this preliminary study are based on findings from assessment made by the NDG team, some findings of baseline studies sponsored by NITDA, clippings from National daily and weekly newspapers of articles on ICT and ICT related issues in the whole country. These are further complemented by data from online, written, anecdotal and other existing resources.

2. FINDINGS OF ASSESSMENT IN THE COUNTRY 2.1 Network Access Assessment Nigeria telecommunications sector has improved tremendously within the last seven years. Previously telephone users could only rely on the government owned national carrier NITEL which was then enjoying a monopoly of the telecommunications market. This resulted in poor services, poor network penetration, poor customer service, nonmaintenance of existing infrastructure and so many other negatives. However a first attempt at deregulation in the year, 1992, did not totally erase these problems as the Private Telecommunication Operators (PTO) merely cashed in on the then prevailing abject situation to offer their products and services to subscribers at prohibitive prices. Since total liberalization of the sector took effect in 1999, the market has rapidly expanded and though still not totally ideal, the consumers and the Nigerian populace are the better for it. As a result of this total deregulation, several licenses have been issued and are operational in respect of Global Satellite for Mobile (GSM) phone services (MTN, GLOBACOM, VMOBILE, MTEL), fixed wireless and limited mobility lines (Multilinks, Intercellular, Star-com, Cell-comm, etc). Internet Service Provision licenses have been granted to over 36 companies within the country. Also a second national carrier license was granted to Globacom and covers provision of main lines, GSM, etc. As a result of all these developments in the sector, the government owned NITEL has had to commence action on improvement of its services. Its Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a hybrid backbone network comprising analogue and digital lines, is now largely digital (over 95%) thereby enabling and paving the way for the provision of value-added ICT related services. Most of the PTO companies now use mainly CDMA and other modern data/internet enabled equipments. All the 36 state capitals have telecommunication access though in most cases this is largely through the network of the premier national carrier NITEL and the GSM telephone operators MTN, MTEL and VMobile. The PTO companies, except for about 3 or 4 have very little presence outside Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt as they regard these mentioned areas as more commercially viable for their operations. There are several initiatives aimed at connecting Points of Presence (POP) to the global network but connection to the global Internet still needs to be cheaper than what presently obtains. Also greater effort still needs to be made towards higher capacity, higher speed Internet connection and better, more extensive coverage around the country. There is still

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room for improvement, as despite the strides in telecommunications service and network availability, findings still show that a vast proportion of the country is only in stages one of ICT infrastructures i.e. very poor access to telecommunications infrastructure, few shared facilities for telecom access and very low telephone main line and poor mobile wireless penetration. The larger urban areas could be said to be at stage two. Generally it is to be noted that e-Readiness varies greatly across the vast terrain of Nigeria and there are markedly different results in rural and sub-urban areas in contrast to the bigger urban areas. The prerequisites for participation in the digital, networked economy include affordable ICT, reliable electricity supply, reliable and up-to-date infrastructure, and above all connectivity, which addresses the overall reliability of infrastructure. Although steady progress is being made in the area of addressing the countrys tele-density, connectivity is yet to be a country wide phenomenon and electricity supply problems are yet to be seriously, properly and comprehensively addressed. These issues are obstacles to any developing countrys, evolution to a digital economy and information society. 2.1(i) Network Infrastructure Statistics Though reliable statistics do not currently exist, estimates available indicate that with about 700,000 connected fixed telephone lines, a rough estimate of about 5.3 million Mobile telephone lines, Nigeria has an estimated 6 million telephone lines in operation. This gives a teledensity of 5 lines per 100 people. It is difficult to assess the revenue of NITEL the public/government owned national carrier, due to poor-record keeping and the culture of secrecy/non-disclosure among government owned parastatals, but a major player MTN Nigeria has recently announced a revenue N59 billion (Nigerian Naira) in respect of its last fiscal year operations. VMobile released a half year profit about N3.2 billion (Nigeria Naira). Estimates so far, also indicate that MTN has connected 2 million mobile telephone lines around the country, VMobile has about 1 million, Glomobile has 1 million and MTEL has about 700,000 lines connected. Each of these companies has several base stations, masts and alternative power sources installed in several locations all around the country. The figures for the PTO companies coverage were not available at the time of conclusion of this preliminary study. The overall growth of the telecommunication industry at present in Nigeria can be safely said to be in excess of 600% per annum, fuelled greatly by the booming growth of the cellular phone sub-sector. In terms of connectivity in Nigeria and back bone capacity, the issue of availability or adequacy of capacity are not so much in contention as distribution and its current structure. Of the installed 11,275 E1 capacity for national voice and data services, 6,123 have been used leaving as outstanding 5,152, thus bringing utilization to 54%. Of the various satellite/VSAT Systems yield of up to 2GB of capacity, only about 200MB are utilized. Though the SAT-3 International fibre Optic Cable has a landed capacity in the country, of 16STMs (2GB)-with 2STMs (300MB) connected, only an estimated 20MB (which is less than 10%) is utilized. NITEL which is a major player has about 13,600 combined subscriber capacity in its Internet Points of Presence (POP) in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Bauchi, but only an estimated 4,922 (i.e. 36%) are subscribed. 11

Recent news reports (Daily Independent; Tuesday, July 20, 2004) indicate that NITEL has successfully executed its first ADSL facilitated connection of the internet in Abuja, where the company connected SHELL Trustees Ltd Pension property to the Internet using the technology which provides a high speed connection of up to 8 MB per second, using NITELs standard copper network. The ADSL connection can run simultaneously with the regular voice traffic on the same copper lines while the network is connected directly to the London Internet Exchange, using SAT-3 submarine cable, thereby ensuring high quality and high bandwidth connection. There is need for this to be deployed in other parts of Nigeria and to the generality of NITELs subscribers, and for the infrastructure to be made available to the ISPs. Nigeria has several fixed/main line operators which include NITEL, Intercellular, MultiLinks, RELTEL, STARCOMMS, DISC-COMM, etc. just to name a few. Studies indicate that the statistics for fixed line coverage is limited to only 211 out of the total 774 Local Government Headquarters existing in Nigeria, 264 cities and 31% of the land mass of Nigeria. Internet service covers 20% of the land mass. The studies further reveal that ICT Networks and services are more predominant in the southern part of Nigeria (63%), than in the Northern region which has 37% coverage. As a country, Nigeria has resources on ground and initiatives in place which will be readily adaptable for the purposes of the Nigeria Development Gateway. Since the total deregulation of the Telecommunication sector and the grant of licenses for local manufacture/assembly of PCs, the ICT infrastructure has been showing impressive growth and development. The country has 4 GSM telecommunication companies, about 10 predominant fixed wireless telephone companies, NITEL provides fixed mainlines and through its subsidiary MTEL provides GSM and analogue mobile lines. All these companies are competing on quality and range of value added services which include text messaging, Internet access/data services etc. There has also been an explosive growth in the number and proliferation of Cyber-cafes, as well as of private radio and television stations and of newspapers and magazines which all have websites and numerous telephone lines (both fixed and cellular) whose numbers are proudly displayed on their intro or back pages, and who invite and encourage emails and telephone calls from the public and news sources. awareness and on the essence and importance of computer literacy and technology savoir faire at all and every level and strata of society in Nigeria.

It is estimated that over 3 million people in Nigeria use the Internet at least 2 times in a week. About 75% of this number use the Internet for email. Also about 75% access the Internet through cyber cafes. Urban areas and cities especially, have better infrastructure, a higher concentration of companies with corporate LANs and therefore higher connectivity. Using Internet Access Points as a basis for measuring Internet Spread, the number of Internet Access points have been estimated at 530,720 in offices/corporate organizations, 122,431 in homes and 32,060 in cybercafs, bringing the total Internet Access Points to 683,866 therefore establishing Nigerias info density at 5 Internet access points per 1000 people in a population of 130 million people. At present the issue of an

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Internet Exchange for Nigeria has not been fully resolved but there is urgent need for this so as to minimize the need for very high band width to switch Internet Services outside Nigeria as is presently the case, which situation is a drain on internal resources since the countrys Internet Tariff is over 300% of the nations gross national per capita income. Obviously most of these users are predominantly in the urban areas though a few fixed wireless telephones companies are braving the odds to extend their reach to some rural areas (such examples include Bourdex Telecom and Rainbownet in Eastern Nigeria). The GSM operators boast of farther reach than operators of fixed main lines and have penetrated to more rural locations, but their services do not as yet allow for Internet access, although MTN Nigeria and Glomobile provide WAP on some their products (but this is at present quite expensive and limited to their high-end users). Internet subscribers (especially for dial- up) will be found mostly in the major urban towns and cities where ISPs have strong presence, as dial-up will be very expensive from non-urban locations (since about 30% of the cost attached to it are accounted for by the telephone charges) and from rural or non-major towns, high long-distance telephone charges and poor connections will come into play. Also dial-up modern speed at times fluctuates, sometimes dipping to as low as 12.2 kbps. This low speed equally affects the telephone charges. If the implementation of the recently flagged off Rural Telephony scheme is pursued seriously by the nations government, it is believed that these problems will to a great extent be allayed. The Nigerian Development Gateway initiative can work with the current infrastructure in place to reach a large percentage of the populace and with the aforementioned Rural Telephony scheme in place, it will be easier to reach more of the rural populace with public enlightenment messages and awareness campaigns, as well as expose them to the various practical ways Internet use can improve their lives.

(ii). Service and support: In the past, before deregulation and even during the 1992 partial deregulation of telecommunication sector, NITEL had a monopoly of telecom business in Nigeria. Nigeria could at that time be said to be in varying degrees of stages 1 and 2 in terms of telecoms service and support. As with all such monopolies, services were poor, customer complaints and needs were frequently ignored. Then, it used to take months if one was lucky (and paid prohibitively too) or years otherwise, to get mainlines installed. In the event of a fault, a subscriber might have to wait for months for the fault to be attended to. There was no explicit or particular attention by the telecommunication service provider(s) to customer service and prices were very high and in some cases prohibitive. In the other ICT areas, there existed a small community of web designers, software developers, network administrators, engineers and other technical personnel.

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However, full liberalization has changed the scenario drastically. With two national carriers, at least 10 Independent private telecommunication operators providing fixed wireless telephone lines and 4 GSM telecom operators (whose networks have made the most impact), the society has been greatly liberated so to say. The resultant effect is that prices are lower and more competitive, service delivery has greatly improved (though there is still room for improvement) and teledensity or penetration of telephone/telecommunication services has been greatly increased. In terms of installation, although it may still take some weeks to get a NITEL telephone installed, response to report of faults is faster and less bogged down by bureaucracy. As regards the PTO companies, a fixed line can be obtained and activated in less than 48 hours. More prompt attention is generally paid to customer support and service by these operators. Generally there is growing customer service ethic among service and support providers. Also the democratic environment makes it easier for the consumers and general public to openly voice their complaints through several media. ICT maintenance, continuous upgrade of equipment and infrastructure is now the norm, as competition continues to grow and technical support services are available. Another off shoot of this is a nascent software industry and a growing community of hardware technicians/engineers, web-designers and network administrators. (iii). Internet Availability Generally, the country can be said to be at stages two and three, depending on what area is being assessed. In some urban areas, a limited number of Internet Service Providers offer local dial-up access. Studies show that there are more than 1,000,000 inhabitants per local ISP in these areas. However, for the bigger cities which can be rated at stage three, there are generally about 500,000 inhabitants per local ISP. ISPs invariably provide full Internet access and subscribers usually have some options between various Internet service packages. Dial-up connection to local ISPs is usually more possible though connection rates drop during peak hours. Some providers provide leased lines to corporate bodies while some big organizations access the Internet through corporate LANs and VSAT link ups. A great percentage of the populace in the urban areas however, does so through Internet/Cyber Cafes. Poor rural telecommunication penetration however is an obstacle to use of the Internet by most of the rural dwellers. Educational institutions in general (with the exception of some private educational institution), do not have Internet connection. Rural educational institutions generally do not have basic infrastructure or ICT knowledge and therefore Internet access is not contemplated in their curriculum. With the current and on going boom of telecommunication growth in the country, efforts should be geared towards enhancing even spread and efficient access across the various parts of the country. However this gap can still be bridged by exploring and exploiting the use of other channels of basic ICT such as radio broadcast, video, etc. There are no subsidized or free Internet access points in Nigeria. None of the ISPs has shown interest in this so far especially for the rural populace and NGOs. With strategic partnership between NDG and some of these organizations this idea can be explored for the benefit

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of ordinary Nigerian rural dwellers. Generally most ICT products currently in use in the country are sourced from abroad i.e. outside Nigeria, from the more developed Western countries. There is however a strong and growing localization industry, which in most cases adapts some of these products to local needs. In big cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, in particular, there is a vibrant and growing market for software and hardware, with a competitive retail and wholesale market for these products. Hardware and software suited to local needs and languages are widely available in these areas. Four local assembly plants have been endorsed by the Government for the assembly and manufacture of computer hardware. They all have a combined capacity to produce 1050 PCs a day. Studies show that in the period spanning 2001-2002, they have produced and sold less than a combined total of 30,000 PCs. However, one of the major players in this sector, OMATEK Computers has embarked on a fresh expansion drive in its indigenous production/assembly of PC casings, speakers and more recently laptops. This company pioneered in the African region, the local assembly of casings and speakers and later graduated to PCs manufacture. It is however estimated by studies, that there are more clones than branded computers being assembled and sold by the informal or gray market. High import duty and low patronage by even Government have been cited by local assembly plants generally, as the main reasons behind poor sales of locally produced branded hardware. 2.2 Networked Learning Assessment Human resource base in Nigeria ICT sector though growing is still yet to match the current size of the rapidly expanding industry capacity in Nigeria. ICT Education in the country has been mostly available in tertiary educational institutions i.e. Universities, Polytechnics etc. but a limited range of ICT training and appreciation courses are available in private training institutions/establishments which offer courses on software development and diagnostics, computer engineering, website development, word processing etc. A few of these establishments offer Internet appreciation courses for free or at discounted rates especially in Lagos. Training in the tertiary educational institutions are generally geared towards preparing the students for paid employment on graduation, but the private training institutions gear their courses towards imparting practical, though in most cases, rudimentary ICT skills. There have been efforts to develop curriculum for the Universities to bring in ICT in all the institutions but the extent of its implementation is still not very clear. The recent Human Development Report/Index drawn up by the UNDP rates Nigeria among the least developed countries in the world even in spite of the progress made in the past 5 (five) years. Previously the country was rated at 45% below poverty level but presently the rating places the country at 70% below poverty level. This means that serious and concerted efforts should be made to address this problem, as one of the major contributors to poverty is lack of knowledge. The NDG initiative will be a very useful platform to benefit Nigerians in this effort through projects such as telecenters providing basic computer training, Internet access, skill development training etc.

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in collaboration and strategic partnership with interested ICT and other organizations. The end product of NDG efforts in this area will be job creation, poverty reduction, public enlightenment and awareness etc. (i) School Access to ICT Many educational tertiary institutions in the country can generally be placed at stage 2 of ICT readiness. Studies indicate that there are generally fewer than 5 computers in most faculties. Access to the computers is limited to computer teachers and/or administrators. These computers generally tend to be older generation models such as stand-alone 486 PCs or equivalent. Where multiple computers are installed they are usually not networked and use of the computers was normally limited to retrieval or preparation of electronic documents that are stored in the hard drive or diskettes. In primary and secondary schools which are supposed to provide important foundation for higher level education, ICT curricula do not generally exist except in some private schools. There are disparities in quality of education across income level and geographical locations. The result is that as they advance into higher learning institutions these students usually find that they are lacking in the required basic skills and knowledge they require, in order to produce any remarkable academic result. This study also revealed that only a very small proportion of these schools have telephone lines and among those that have, very few of the lines were functioning or accessible to the students and a large majority of the teachers. A negligible number of the students who were a little bit privileged, have GSM telephones which were mostly used to receive calls and in rare cases make calls or send text messages. This was more predominant in the tertiary institutions and there are geographical variations to this finding, as this was only prevalent in the institutions sited in bigger or more metropolitan cities.

(ii) Enhancing Education with ICT In most of the schools in the country, with the exception of the top range elitist private schools, the computers available were mostly used by the teachers in a very limited fashion. In some cases the teachers basic computer literacy and skills generally involve use of the key-board and mouse, a basic understanding of the computers operating system, manipulation of files and cutting and pasting. Computer use, as earlier stated is generally more and prevalent in the tertiary institutions. In some of the private educational institutions particularly in the Lagos area, teachers and students use computers to support traditional work and study. The teachers who use computers are generally proficient with word processing applications and may access information offline from CD-ROMs. In some cases they are able to employ computers in some basic drill-and-practice lessons and some times may access and organize information from the World Wide Web in their work, share information using email and create information in electronic format to share with others both within and outside the 16

school. The syllabi in some of these schools include computer science classes and use of the Internet for research work. However some students in the less advantaged public tertiary institutions utilize cyber cafes for educational research work especially those related to Industrial Training research papers, thesis or graduation research projects etc. Public libraries in Nigeria are generally in a poor state as, in most cases, they have very few modern books, most have no computers, audio-visual aids etc. and those who do, have very old models which are used mostly for word processing if at all. In most cases old/archival manual type-writers can be found in some of these libraries. One of the areas NDG plans to focus on is e-Learning whereby long-distance training can be availed students, government employees, business entrepreneurs, NGOs and skill Development Training provided for the unemployed etc. (iii) Developing the ICT Workforce In Nigeria, technical classes and programs on ICT-related subjects and courses are widely available in the bigger, more commercial urban centers such as Lagos and to some degree in other urban areas, from a variety of public and private centers. Some employers especially in the Banking and Insurance sectors, oil and gas industry and some service sectors, offer training in the use of Information and Communication Technologies to their employees. There is limited access to online training. Due to the poor accessibility of ICT within the countrys educational system generally, most fresh graduates are usually ill equipped for employment in the competitive sectors like Banking/Financial sector, Telecommunications, etc. or in upwardly mobile companies/organizations where knowledge of or skills in ICT are pre-requisites for employment. It is difficult to get a fair assessment of the number of technical schools with ICT focus as most are of the informal enterprise category. However each of the 36 states in the Country has a government owned College of Science and Technology where ordinary and higher National Diploma courses are available in Computer Sciences and a few technical courses. But due to absence of or poor facilities most of these schools deal mostly on the theoretical aspect of ICT and not the practical, hands-on aspect. In some cases there may be 2 computers per 100 students. There is however, a proliferation of small privately operated ICT centers. Most of these centers main line of business is cyber-caf operation and they run short duration training programs on the side. There is no comprehensive regulatory policy for the operation of cyber-caf business and public records on the number of these private training centers are not readily available. But of the number visited for the purposes of this study between two and five people on the average were employed for about 80% of the cafes. Skills level of these employees can be assessed as follows: Those without formal Education : 5% Those who attended 1 week course:20% Those who had 3 months Training: 40%

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Those who had 6 months Training : 25% Those who had Training of 1 year and above:10%

IT graduates lacked basic practical skills as a major percentage of their educational training was mostly theoretical in nature. As such graduates are usually encouraged to acquire practical skills in ICT through training programs of the types described above. However some higher end private initiatives exist such as NIIT, Lagos city Computer College etc. which offer specialized programs. Microsoft Nigeria is also setting up some digital villages in some locations in the country. There is one already running in Owerri, Imo State and another is about to take off in Lagos State. 2.3 Network Society (i) People and Organizations online: In the provinces, non-urban and rural areas of Nigeria, much of the population has never heard of the Internet and most people do not know anyone who has ever used it. In our studies it was found that less than 0.5% of the population in these areas has used the Internet recently and of the minimal percentage that has, very few are regular users. However in the urban areas, and main cities (with Lagos dominating, followed by Abuja, the state capitals, particularly in the South East, South West and South-South of Nigeria) most of the population has heard of the Internet and are actively using it. Earlier studies indicate that as at 2002, only about 20,000 30,000 Nigerians were on the net (Economist Intelligence Unit Global News Analysis). Estimates carried out in the course of this study indicate that the number at present may well be close to 10 times those figures. The overwhelming majority of users are between the ages of 10 and 35, though a very small percentage above this age range has access/connectivity in their homes and /or offices and uses it minimally for emails and sometimes for cyberspace browsing aimed at a specific purpose. The number of registered domains locally was found to be at least 2 per 1000 people in these areas. Advertising in traditional media, such as print media, television and radio for online companies or resources was found to be infrequent. Generally, there is a need for more awareness creation on the use of and untapped quantum of opportunities to be gained from the use of the Internet and other forms of ICT, among the populace generally, including the corporate sector and the workforce. Among the major users of ICT in the country are the Banks and Financial Institutions. There are about 86 licensed Banks in Nigeria though the number may reduce in the coming months, as the Central Bank of Nigeria has recently released a new recapitalization policy, which analysts and banking insiders believe will cause major mergers, consolidation and acquisitions within this sector. Majority of the banks have online banking products and Smart Card systems. There are other initiatives in the country that fall under this heading as well. In the public sector, the recent e-Government efforts of the federal government through its agency

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NITDA and that of a few state governments such as Ogun, Jigawa and Kano States are noteworthy. Other initiatives, in the private business sector such as implementation of Human Resources and payroll systems, Integrated Financial Management Systems etc. especially among the banks, petroleum/gas companies, consulting firms etc., complement the efforts to stabilize the financial infrastructure networks. In short supply however, are sound eBusiness ideas and environmental mechanisms such as venture capital business incubators, an open business environment and business friendly Government policies, to enable these ideas to flourish. Most of the strides and development in ICT growth in the country had previously been primarily private sector driven, with inadequate support by the Government. But a Government deregulation policy in this sector in recent years, has enabled an immense and very encouraging growth in this sector. Also the Governments agency on IT implementation (NITDA), is implementing some e-Government initiatives aimed at establishing online presence for the Government sector. Stronger partnerships, led by the private sector and supported by leaders at all levels of government and by NGOs/Civil Society groups, will facilitate an improvement in the current status of ICT use by the Nigerians generally. (ii) Locally Relevant Content: Our studies reveal that there is a growing number of local or Nigeria-related portals which cater for locally relevant content. A general picture given on this issue by the Yahoo search engine yields 16,300,000 results in respect of Nigeria (as at August 7, 2004). Irrespective of content, each of these sites promises some degree of available local content. There is a website established by the Federal Government of Nigeria (specifically the Presidency) http://www.nigeria.gov.ng - which was announced with some fanfare a couple of years ago. This portal is dedicated to giving some basic general information about the Nigeria as well as a few of the Federal Governments activities. Another government site is the http://www.nopa.net which was established by the Federal Ministry of National Orientation and Public Affairs. Other useful sites include http://www.Nigeria.com, an interactive site on Nigeria affairs, news, business forums, discussion, links etc.; www.Nigeriatoday.com which is media and news focused; www.onlineNigeria.com which provides information related to the countrys geography, history, culture, government, tribes, education and news. Numerous national newspapers such as the Guardian, This Day, Vanguard, Financial Standard etc. all have websites featuring relevant news on Nigeria. However our studies did not reveal the existence of any particular website, portal or gateway for development information on Nigeria and thus no portal addresses problems faced by Government, policy makers, the private sector, civil society, the donor community, researchers and academicians and other related issues. Neither is there any portal dedicated to providing investment related information for potential investors, in respect of Nigeria, though some websites feature bleak news on business in Nigeria, while a few international websites such as the Economist Intelligence Unit website (http://www.eiu.com) does carry a little bit of investment related news and information on Nigeria along with other countries. Findings reveal that most of these sites are hosted outside the community. There is some use of bulletin board systems, Usenet groups, 19

newsletters and/or list serves. Another finding is that several of these sites carry static content and are updated infrequently. The assigned Nigerian Country Code Top Level Domain name (.ng ccTLD ) is at the moment, still generating a bit of controversy, following its recent re-delegation to the Nigerian Government by the ICANN. The new administrative contact for the domain name is NITDA, although the technical contact still remains Mr. Randy Bush (email:randy@psg.com). Although the URL for registration has been advertised, WHOIS server is not listed. The domain name was first registered in 1995 but has been largely inactive. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) recently updated the .ng records on its website in June 2004. It is hoped that the controversy will be quickly sorted out by all stakeholders who include the federal government, NITDA, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), the Nigeria Internet Group, and ICT professionals etc. to ensure speedy administration on the domain name and subsequent establishment of the countrys identity in cyberspace. From all the foregoing, it can be stated that available local and relevant information on the country is largely scattered, disparate and uncoordinated. This makes the process of sourcing, searching for and accessing Nigeria-related information rather time consuming and incomprehensive. This makes the NDG a very timely initiative to keep all information under one portal, making a real time one-stop, window to the world, for information on Nigeria. (iii). ICT Use in Everyday Life In contrast with the previous dismal situation concerning ICT use in the daily lives of Nigerians, there is a lot of growth in this area at present, particularly in the urban centers. The same can however not be said of the rural areas where there is very little or no use at all, depending on geographical location and the remoteness of the area. (a) Utilization of Telephones: Utilization of telephones has actually increased among Nigerians with the current booming growth of this sector. According to a recent national newspaper report (THIS DAY JULY 15TH, 2004), the number of telephone lines in use in Nigeria has hit an all time high of 6 million from about 500,000 just three years ago and a figure of about 4 million at the end of 2003. The article is based on a recent statement by the Executive Chairman of the National Communications commission (NCC). The entry of GSM telephone companies, Private Telecommunication Operator (PTO) companies, ISPs (whose Internet services also enable cheaper international telephone calls through internet telephony), second national carrier Globacom, in addition to government-owned NITEL has engendered the tremendous growth in the use of telephones and allied services among the populace and also of numerous small but thriving commercial call centres, public payphones, sale of mobile telephone handsets, telephone recharge call cards for both cellular and fixed mainlines etc Though the cost/rates remain high and mobile phones

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remain expensive for most individuals, these call centers fill the gap and make phone use assessable to a very large percentage of the populace. (b) Utilization of the Internet: Nigerians had previously been slow to embrace Internet technology, mostly as a result of the prohibitive local subscription charges (which can be high as $3,000 in some cases, for a one year VSAT subscription). The VSAT option is largely patronized by corporate bodies. Home access remains very expensive also and one must also have a phone for dial-up access. NITEL, the premier national telecoms operator has established a POP in five cities across Nigeria and MTN Nigeria one of the major GSM Telecom companies has had in place, a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) system since February 2002, while Glomobile recently introduced same. Most of the PTO operators have various ranges of flexible internet subscription options. It is however much more affordable and convenient for most, to go online at cybercafs, where one hour session generally costs about 70 cents. Half hour sessions are also available in most cybercafs. Email and online chat are generally the most popular activities for most Nigerian Internet users. A few also engage in cyber surfing and a minimal few use the Internet for research work and online banking. At present there is hardly any use of the internet for license applications, inspection clearance, tax-filing business registration, customs modernization etc. as Government services have not been fully digitized. There is minimal existence of commercial transactions on the Internet at present in Nigeria due to lack of security infrastructure and the prevalence of cyber crime. This is troubling as the world is rapidly turning into a global village and e-business/eCommerce is one of the driving forces in this transformation. The Internet symbolizes technologies which are shaping a new global economy and a borderless world market. The country will lose a lot by not being a full participant in global eCommerce transactions. Our findings reveal that a Draft Nigerian Cyber crime Act will soon be sent to the Nigerian National Assembly, to be passed into law. If this law is enacted it will most definitely go a long way in enthroning commercial trust in respect of online business/commercial transactions in Nigeria, thereby sustaining private sector interests in Nigeria and attracting the much needed foreign direct investment into the country. Investigations carried out for the purpose of this study reveal that the yet to be enacted Act will be International in standard and will conform with those of G8 and OECD countries. Findings from this study indicate that the high cost of Internet and ICT use generally is a result of poor infrastructure. Most of the companies providing these services have had to build and provide infrastructure on their own in order to operate their businesses. There is poor and unreliable electricity supply and the cost of running alternative power generators is exorbitant and all these costs at the end of the day are passed on the consumer. However as previously stated above, the existence of numerous options for the use of the Internet makes Internet use available and possible for various economic and social strata of the Nigerian populace.

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(c) Ways to Access the Internet and Most Popular Topics In Nigeria, Internet access can be obtained either via VSAT, dial-up access, or through a WAP enabled system via cellular phone. These access options are readily available through numerous ISP and telecommunication companies in the country. As indicated earlier in this report, cybercafs provide the most affordable and most convenient avenue for Internet use to the Nigerian general public. The most popular use of the Internet for a large percentage of Nigerians is for email and online chats. (iv) ICT in the Workplace Over the years ICT use in the average Nigerian workplace, witnessed very slow growth. In the past, it was very common, to have offices operating with old-type manual typewriters, no telephones or fax machines. A few seemingly well- to- do companies in some urban towns then had electronic typewriters and perhaps a rotary telephone box for its sole phone line. However in recent years the situation has largely improved. The present situation on ICT use in Nigeria is that ICT tools are widely used in most work places. Even if it is only by the acquisition of a GSM cellular phone, most businesses have seen the need and importance of ICT for business efficiency, and convenience. On the issue of computer penetration, computers are largely and commonly used in workplaces in the large commercial city Lagos and many of the other large cities and urban centers, but in some of the smaller cities, computer use is predominant mostly in banks, cybercafs and computer-related business such as commercial business centers, regional/representatives offices of telecom companies etc. However on a general note, country wide ICT use can be assessed by examining Private Sector and Public Sector ICT use and to a limited extent the NGOs. (a) Private Sector ICT Use There is a very small percentage of really large-scale users of ICT in the Nigeria private sector especially in the sense of a network of thousands of online terminals. Most of the progressive ICT users in the Nigerian private Sector are concentrated within the Banking sector, the ICT sector (especially within its telecommunications industry) and the Petroleum Sector. (i) Banking Sector: ICT use in the Nigerian banking sector is very heavy. Electronic banking is quite prevalent and online, real time banking services are available from most banks in the country. Banks which initially showed reluctance or were slow to provide such services had to eventually join the band wagon due to loss of customers to their more technologically progressive contemporaries.

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(ii) IT Sector The IT sector in Nigeria is experiencing impressive growth. Studies show that computers, though still somewhat expensive, have become more affordable to a greater percentage of Nigerians than was the case in the past. About 4 local PC Assemble plants exist in Nigeria but the more established and major players are Zinox Technologies and Omatek Computers. There is however a thriving grey market that engages in the assembly of clones (unbranded PCs) whose products are generally sold in the informal market. These are largely patronized by many of the smaller IT companies as they are generally cheaper and the usually have the technical know-how to maintain these computers should any faults develop. Generally among the IT companies the nature of their businesses makes it mandatory for high usage of ICT. Among the more established and major companies within this sector, almost all advertise email addresses and many have web-pages. It is believed that NDG portal can provide a credible platform and window through which these companies can increase their outreach. (ii) Telecommunications The companies in this industry fall within different categories. There are the operators, which comprise the licensed telecoms companies such as (NITEL, Globacom, MTN, VMobile, Intercellular, Multilinks etc). There are also the telecoms marketing companies which focus on the sales and distribution of telecoms equipments. All the operators have email addresses and their employees have company assigned email addresses for workrelated email. All of them have websites which are regularly updated. Most of the buildings used by these companies feature LAN or WAN. (iii) Petroleum/Gas Sector: Most of the operators in this sector are multinationals, subsidiaries of multinationals or have some foreign investment in their operations and so utilize ICTs heavily for their day to day business. The computers are fully networked and business transactions and research are carried out over the web. Some employees in this sector use email for internal communications. Different office locations are connected to each other through external networks and these networks may extend nationally or internationally (e.g. Shell Nigeria). A significant percentage of the employees have Internet access from their own workstations and almost all have their own email accounts for internal and external communications. The workers in this sector invariably list email and website addresses on their business cards. (b) Public Sector ICT Use: Nigeria has been making some progress in Public Sector reform since the transition to democratic rule in 1999. The Nigerian Government has acknowledged the importance of Information and Communication Technology and has formulated a National Information 23

Technology Policy (NITP) which vision is to make Nigeria an IT capable country and a key player in the Information Societyusing IT as an engine for sustainable development and global competitiveness. Some IT centers have been established by the Federal Government across the 6 geographical zones and these include the Bola Ige IT centre in collaboration with the United States Embassy. Certain state governments (Jigawa, Lagos and Kano) have also carried out extensive computerization of their administrative infrastructures. Jigawa State also has very serious online presence via its website. The Federal Government also recently launched an e-Government scheme which will see the training of its officers, the judiciary, police, customs personnel etc. on ICT use in relation to their areas of work. (c) Non-Governmental Organizations: NGOs deal with and interact directly with the marginalized grass roots in the country, within urban areas but mostly and more importantly in the rural areas. These organizations address issues such as HIV/AIDS, food security issues, human rights, provision of basic health to the rural folk, Gender issues etc. They also work on environmental and natural resources management related issues, consumer protection etc. Unfortunately most of them do not have online presence and as a result of funding constraints have limited access to ICT to facilitate their programs. These issues form a great segment of the NDG focus and as such the NDG aims to work in close collaboration with most of these organizations. NDG has already been holding talks with several of these NGOs. 2.4 Networked Economy There is some significant online database regarding Nigerian business especially in relation to banking, Telecommunications, ISPs, Petroleum/Gas some in different websites and web pages on Nigeria. Some of these websites are relatively unknown and are rarely visited except by those who take the time to search the web. A minimal few of these websites feature weather forecasts but these are rarely updated. There is very limited comprehensive online information on Nigerian agriculture, mineral resources outside of crude oil, tourism sites and there is no comprehensive online business directory encompassing various sectors. Majority of the websites pay little or no attention to useful content on job opportunities, nor do they have any place for NGOs and Civil Society Groups. These areas form some of the core focus areas of NDG and having all these information under one roof will be more convenient and more useful for most users. (i) ICT Employment Opportunities: In Nigeria technical skills are becoming a source of competitive advantage and are attracting some investment and employment opportunities by companies outside the country, especially with particular reference to the Telecommunications industry. In the Telecom sub-sector alone, it is estimated that job and self employment opportunities have been created for millions of Nigerians through direct employment by the telecoms 24

companies or call center operations, sale of call recharge cards, SIM-packs, phone accessories and handsets as well as phone handset repair services. With more than 38 licensed ISP companies operating in the country as well as cable service providers all of which require a significant number of employees with technical skills, there are numerous employment opportunities in this sector. For other major businesses outside the aforesaid areas, Information and Communications Technologies are considered central to their strategies and operations and so their need for employees with ICT skills is a given. Some of the bigger corporate organizations train their new employees, as part of the orientation process, on the use of ICT. (ii) Business-to-Consumer- B2C. Electronic Commerce Most companies or corporate organization in Nigeria which have websites use their websites mainly for corporate image branding and advertisement of their products and services. These websites are rarely used for online transactions with the exception of the banks which offer online banking services. A large percentage of business organizations however have websites which provide very basic information and this is infrequently updated. There is little or no information on pricing, no consumer guides or consumer feedback collection and no indication in most cases of the number of visitors to the site. Due to lack of security infrastructure there is some limited presence of online ordering options on some of the website but hardly any online payment options with the exception of such petroleum companies like Shell, Mobil, Oando (formally Unipetrol), Conoil (formerly National Oil Plc), etc. but this is mostly with regard to their offshore transactions. Most businesses accept orders placed by telephone or by fax and businesses also still distribute hard copy catalogues for remote browsing of goods and services. A large number do not have any website and do not have or distribute hard copy catalogues. They may carry out newspaper, radio and perhaps television advertisements but invariably rely on walk-in sales. 95% of purchases still take place primarily in person, by fax or telephone even though email/online ordering may be used to expedite the process. (iii) Business-to-Business-B2B Rating B2B transactional interactions are generally by telephone, faxes, emails, letters and personal meetings between the key individuals. However among the bigger and more established business, the adoption of the Internet for business interaction is getting more and more common as they realize they can save costs, more man/working hours and achieve better efficiency through ICT use. There is awareness of the advantages of ICT tools among businesses in Nigeria as even the small businesses, which cannot afford to acquire these tools make do with the services of commercial business centers, telecenters/payphone operators and cybercafs to ease and facilitate their transactions. There has been a huge impact on the local economy by ICT especially since 2001 which saw the entry of the GSM telecom Operators into the Nigerian economy. A growing service/support sector was automatically created as a consequence e.g. Phone/handset 25

sales and repairs, sale of accessories and recharge cards thus creating a new local/economy. Orders for these goods and services are mostly done by telephone. With the recent ban by Government on the importation of recharge cards, some companies are exploring the idea of opening recharge card factories in the country. With the enactment of the Nigeria Cyber-crime Law to ensure security of transactions, it is foreseen that in the near future, B2B transactions will fully become prevalent. (iv) E-Government: Nigerian Government structure is three-tier in nature Federal, State and Local Government (a three level Government structure). The Federal structure of government comprises The Executive, Legislative and the Judicial arms. (a) Federal: ICT readiness at Federal Government level in Nigeria is still not reasonably high but the Federal Government through its e-Government program (which is being overseen by NITDA a collaborative partner in the Nigeria Development Gateway project), is making concerted efforts to entrench ICT use at various levels of its operations. There is still limited availability of computers at this level and Internet access in offices. Where computers are available, they are most usually only accessible to top-most functionaries and their immediate support staff. The Federal Government launched an official website for the presidency a couple of years ago which was meant to provide an avenue to the public to ask questions on government policies, affairs etc. but most Nigerians are not aware of this website and as such visits to the website are not at optimal level. A few other government websites also exist but the general trend among most of them is that information is often static and infrequently updated. Some every limited interaction is possible with the government at this level by telephone or fax though it is generally difficult to get direct access to key Government functionaries through these means or receive needed feedback from them. There is still a very high prevalence (about 98%) in the distribution of about the federal government services, policies, procedures, affairs and responsibilities in hard copy. There is no website detailing Bills sent to the Nigerian National Assembly and Bills already passed into law or even providing information to the public about the National Assemblies daily deliberations. (b) State Government: Very few of the states are actively using ICT and 98% of the state governments do not have any ICT policy in place. However states like Jigawa and Kano have and are implementing ICT policies at present. Although Lagos has not announced any ICT policy, it is actively pursuing the computerization of most of its ministries and 26

establishments. According to news sources (THISDAY, July 15, 2000), the state government (in compliance with the recent Government policy of priority patronage of indigenous PC manufacturers) has a standing order for 400,000 PCs from one of the local manufacturers (OMATEK). It also recently announced its intention to implement the use of an e-Registry in its Lands Ministry. This will definitely ease access to lands records in the Lands Registry, which have hitherto been kept manually. There are no similar findings as regards the remaining 33 states of the federation. (iii). Local Governments This last tier of government has the lowest access/awareness as regards the use of ICT. The local government Chairs as well as the counselors require training on ICT in order to work more efficiently and as a motivation to bring innovative ideas to their jobs as representatives of the local rural folks. There are as yet no such trainings in place. Through seminars and workshops the NDG will be able to bring ICT use closer to this category.

2.5 Network Policy Assessment (i) Telecommunication Regulation. The deregulation of the telecom industry in Nigeria began in 1992 in order to encourage lower price and improved service to consumers. However it was only in 1997 that NITELs monopoly was effectively ended by the grant of licenses to private operators some of whom were able to provide services using NITELs network. Others focused on fixed wireless assess telephones. However the licenses granted these operators limited the geographical reach of their reach to particular areas. NITEL still enjoyed some degree of dominance of the terra in until 2001 when the present Government further liberalized the sector by licensing 2 private companies and NITEL to operate Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). In 2003 the Government also granted a license for second National Carrier to Globacom which subsequently rolled out its GSM network through its subsidiary Glomobile. According to news publications (Financial Standard, August 2 2004), the company has started rolling out their optic fibre infrastructure in readiness for their fixed line network. The regulation of the telecoms sector in Nigeria is vested in the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC). The Commission monitors the activities of the operators and also handles consumer complaints. The present management of the NCC has adopted a proactive and interactive style in its regulatory work, organizing monthly consumers Forums where consumers are free to attend voice their complaints on services related and other issues such as pricing and all operators are compulsorily required to send representatives to these forums. Operator issues such as interconnection etc. are also constantly being addressed and reviewed. 27

(ii)

ICT Trade Policy

There is generally no ICT Trade policy in Nigeria as ICT trade is treated just like any other sector of the local economy. However with the advent of serious local PC Manufacturers such as Zinox and Omatek which have begun small scale exportation of their products to neighboring countries and have established factories wherein most accessories used on assembly are important it has become very important for Government to put in place measures to encourage this small but burgeoning industry. The Federal Government a few months ago, put in place a policy for its ministries and parastatals to give priority consideration to indigenously manufactured PCs. The Nigeria Internet Group has recommended a reduction of import duties on Information technology equipment by 50% over period of five years at the rate of 10% per year but the Government is yet to act on this recommendation. For the telecom industry the Government granted a partial duty waiver in respect of importation of equipments for their first two years of operation. This policy has recently been suspended and may most likely affect the cost of phones if not reinstated. News reports (Financial Standard, August 2, 2004) however indicate that the NCC has written the Presidency as well as to the Minister of Finance, to reconsider the renewal of the 5% duty waiver on telecommunications equipment imported into the country, as much work still lies ahead for the operators who are still importing equipments for an extensive expansion drive on the national telecommunications infrastructure layout.

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