News
World Bank says Underdeveloped Broadband Infrastructure Hampering Nigeria’s Digital Economy
The World Bank says Nigeria’s digital economy plan is being continually hampered by an underdeveloped fixed broadband infrastructure.
The global bank disclosed this in its ‘Nigeria Development Update: Time for Business Unusual’ report.
According to the bank, Nigeria’s digital economy can transform economic activities and improve government efficiency.
The World Bank said, “Nigeria’s digital economy can transform economic activities by unleashing new productivity gains, offering new services, and improving the government’s efficiency.
“It can also lead to greater citizen engagement, rebuilding trust and enabling access to service.
“Nigeria has the potential to accelerate its digital transformation by leveraging its relatively strong mobile broadband infrastructure, expanding e-commerce markets, and growing digital financial services.
“However, Nigeria continues to face significant challenges which have hindered the country’s ability to reap the full benefits of the digital economy.
“One leading barrier is Nigeria’s underdeveloped fixed broadband infrastructure, which is attributable to high federal and state taxes and an insufficient wholesale regulatory regime.
“This weak infrastructure base creates a ripple effect across the economy, contributing to low levels of financial inclusion, and persistent geographic and gender gaps in access to and use of digital technologies.”
The bank added that the ongoing security crisis in the North had increased these challenges.
It said, “However, Nigeria is only capturing a fraction of its digital economy growth potential.
“Minimal fixed broadband infrastructure and a lack of accessible and affordable connectivity in rural areas are exacerbating the digital divide.
“The country also faces several additional challenges, including suboptimal management of its telecom and power networks, security, and transparency issues, and constraining fiscal policies.”
According to the global bank, digital technologies have the ability to transform all aspects of the economy, as they lower the cost of economic and social transactions for firms, individuals, and the public sector.
The World Bank added that the nation shouldn’t just focus on the information and communication technology sector, as the digital economy referred to a modern economy enabled by digital technologies.
The bank said because the nation had the largest mobile market in Sub-Saharan Africa, improving digital platforms had the potential to connect governments, businesses, and consumers, create market efficiencies and reduce entry barriers.
According to the bank, e-commerce is one of the biggest strengths of Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.
It said in 2018, e-commerce spending in Nigeria was estimated at $12bn and was projected to increase to $75bn in revenues by 2025.
The global bank said a 10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration could lead to a minimum of 0.8 per cent growth in GDP in other regions of the world, and 2.46 per cent growth in Africa.
The report said, “To deliver on the 2030 aspirations of greater access to the digital economy and to meet the bold EGRP’s objective of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty, the government needs to continue to strategically invest in the foundational elements of its digital economy.”
According to the global bank, Nigeria needs about 120,000 to 167,000 kilometres of fibre infrastructure, in addition to its existing 55,000kms, at a cost of $3.4bn. The bank added that this amount included about $870m in fibre deployment costs plus an estimated $2.5bn for 10 years (DCF) cost of Rights of Way fees.
The bank said, “If Rights of Way fees charged by all states are reduced to N145 per metre, then the cost of this dark fibre deployment including RoW fees would decline dramatically from $3.4bn to $1bn, as the DCF of 10 years of RoW fees would decline from $2.5bn to about $150m.
“Currently, the lack of an open-access wholesale network, combined with ineffective wholesale access regulation, varied Federal and State levies, and excessive rights of way fees, continues to hamper investments in the sector.
“Unlike West African peers, such as Ghana and Senegal, Nigeria does not have a pervasive, open access national backbone network through which high-speed Internet connectivity can be affordably extended across the entire country. As such, most telecommunications operators in Nigeria continue to self-provision their own infrastructure.
“This has resulted in unnecessary duplicative investments, with high-traffic intercity routes often having three or more fibre-optic links whilst others have none.”
The bank said about 63 per cent of Nigerians living in rural areas remained unconnected, compared to 40 per cent of people living in urban areas.
According to the bank, there is a north-south divide within the country, with southern states well ahead of northern counterparts in access within a household to mobile phones, and in terms of quality of service.
According to the World Bank, if Nigeria is to fulfil the potential offered by the digital economy, it must first improve its digital infrastructure.
It said, “Innovative solutions and strategic interventions and investments are required in order for Nigeria to gain the critical number of Internet subscribers needed to build its digital ecosystem and kick start its digital transformation”.
CommunicationsWeek Media Limited, a certified global ICT company with over two million online subscribers, is delighted and proud to announce Prof. Yakub Aliyu, as the keynote speaker at Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Distinguished Lecture series 2024.
Aliyu, will be speaking on the theme: Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Good, The Complex and The Anticipated”, this leans heavily on the fact that AI changing our lives– we just need to know where to look today.
This year’s rebranded Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Distinguished Lecture/Awards Series is slated for Saturday, May 25, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton, Lagos.
The event is the most prestigious annual event that brings together captains of industry in both technology and financial worlds.
According to Ken Nwogbo, CEO, Communication Week Media Ltd, organisers of the ABoICT Distinguished Lecture/Awards Series, “the choice of Prof. Yakub Aliyu is deliberate because of his exceptional career in Artificial Intelligence (AI)”.
He added that, AI is considered to have the potential to instigate a fourth industrial revolution,1 and is dramatically changing people’s patterns of interaction and economic activities.
“The traditional factors of production and physical capital and labour may no longer promote substantial economic growth. It is generally believed that AI will be one of the most important factors determining future economic growth,” he said.
A professor of microelectronics and a scholar-practitioner in artificial intelligence and deep machine learning for industrial applications and high-speed application processors. His research interests include Multimodal AI models for high-efficiency industrial robot applications and Human AI interactions.
He also has adjunct academic professorships at five African, USA, and UK universities. Holds a BS in Applied Physics Electronics from Karlsruhe and A Bello Universities in Germany and Nigeria, an MBA in International Business Management from the University of London, an MSEE (Master of Engineering, Electronics), and a Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from the University of Wales.
Prof. Aliyu is the global quality director for Bourns Inc., Riverside, California, USA, an electronics system, and components manufacturer. I oversee quality functions in 21 factories worldwide.
He has also held quality and operational management leadership positions at National Semiconductors, Bell Labs-Lucent Technology, Texas Instrument, Global Foundries, and Roper Technologies USA.
Authored and coauthored over 30 Advanced Technology United States-issued patents in High-Speed Application Processors and Contributed to over 40 international impact Journals, chapters, and conferences; FASI, SMIEEE USA, MIEE UK, M. Inst pf Physics Chartered Phys and C Eng UK.
Past lecturers included Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, then executive vice chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC); Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa, former Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Dr. Jean Luc Fort, CEO at OR System France and a specialist in Counterparty Risk; and Professor Chris Nwagboso, Chairman, Knowledge Factory International, United Kingdom.
Others are: Uche Orji, managing director/chief executive officer, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); Biodu Omoniyi, Managing Director/CEO, VDT Communications; Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director, Rack Centre Limited; Peter Adedayo Arogundade, managing director and chief executive officer, Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited; Dr. Adewale Obadare, chief visionary officer, Digital Encode and John Obaro, CEO and founder of Systemspecs; Prof. Isa Pantanmi, minister of Communications and Digital Economy; Dr. Seyi Akindeind, co-founder, Digital Encode; Dr Krishnan Ranganath, Regional Director, Africa Data Centres.
Legit.ng recently joined forces with the Shade of Life Foundation to become a voice of autism, and drive advocacy for improved media support during Autism Awareness Month.
Participants at the event
Conversations around media support exploration was led by Joseph Omotayo, head of Department for Human Interest Stories at Legit.ng, and Dr. Eziafakaku Nwokolo, founder and CEO of the Shade of Life Foundation,
This partnership is a response to the concerns raised by organizations like the Shade of Life Foundation about the level of support received from the media in discussing autism as a disability.
While other disabilities may receive attention, autism, with its critical developmental implications often lacks adequate representation in mainstream media.
Recognizing the importance of addressing these concerns, Legit.ng took proactive steps by integrating itself into the essence of autism awareness.
It facilitated a one-hour workshop with Dr. Nwokolo, the founder of the foundation, to deepen our understanding of autism, its various spectrums, and the language boundaries associated with it.
Other steps we took in advocating autism awareness in the media, can be seen in our attached press release.
Legit.ng believes that by amplifying the voices of autism and advocating for better media representation, we can contribute to creating a more inclusive and accepting society for all.
While 85 per cent of Nigeria is in darkness, Tanzania, an African country has shut down five hydroelectric stations in a bid to reduce excess electricity in the national grid.
Kassim Majaliwa, prime minister, Tanzania, has said the main plant, Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, alone generated enough electricity to power major cities, including Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial hub.
It is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations due to excess production.
“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much, we have no allocation now,” an official from state-run power company, Tanesco, said.
The 2,115MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Dam is said to be almost filled with water following heavy rains that started early this year.
Meanwhile, while the country has an installed capacity of 1,938MW and the grid installed capacity of 1,899MW, Nigeria which has an installed capacity of 13,000MW is struggling to electrify 85 per cent of its electricity consumers.
Why Multichoice Hiked Subscriptions for DStv and GOtv Packages- FCCPC
Nigerians Trust Bitcoin for Financial Security than Sanks – Report
Tariff Hike Threat: NCC Urges Telcos to Reduce Operating Cost
Paga Hits N14tri Transactions Value in 15 Years
Prof. Aliyu, AI Practitioner to Keynote ABoICT 2024
See Full List of Fake Loan Apps Blacklisted By CBN
CBN Sacks another 50 Staff, 117 Disengaged in 20 Days
AfDB, AGF Partner on Female Entrepreneurs’ Access to Finance
Nigeria Plans AI Strategy Workshop for National Development
IMF says Rising Cyber Threats Pose Serious Concerns for Financial Stability
News3 days agoLegit.ng, Shade of Life Foundation Partner to Advance Autism Awareness in Nigeria
News3 days agoPresident Tinubu Appoints Jim Ovia as Student Loan Fund Chairman
Telecom3 days agoAirtel Nigeria Leads Telecom Market Surge
News3 days agoAs Nigeria Struggle, Tanzania Turns off Power Plants Due to Excess Supply
E-Financial3 days agoCIBN says Recapitalization will Empower Banks to Lend more to Economy
E-Business3 days agoFG to Fnalise National Intellectual Property Policy Soon– NCC Boss
Telecom3 days ago#BuildWithAI Hackathon: Google Developer Groups Lagos Partners SeerBit, GoMyCode
E-Financial3 days agoNew Report Reveals 20% of Nigerians Use Bitcoin to Transact Daily