CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Information
and communication technology (ICT) offers the promise of fundamentally changing
the lives of much of the world’s population. In its various forms, ICT affects
many of the processes of government and business, how individuals live, work
and interact, and the quality of the natural and built environment. The
development of internationally comparable ICT statistics is essential for
governments to be able to adequately design, implement, monitor and evaluate
ICT policies (Madueme, 2010).
Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) has now been accepted as one of the main
driving force behind organizational competitiveness in the present day business
environment. Presently, ICT is having dramatic influence on almost all areas of
human activities and one of the areas of economic activities in which this
influence is most manifest is the banking sector. The banking industry is one
of the critical sectors of the economy which makes invaluable contributions to
the pace of economic growth and development of nations (Ajayi, 2003; Madueme,
2010). However, this study seeks to examine the impact of ICT on the Nigerian
economic growth and development.
Most
developing nations including Nigeria have embarked on various reforms that
foster the use of ICTs in their economies. These reforms tend to yield little
or minimal benefits to economic growth and development, especially when
compared with the developed countries of the world. Technological advancement
is known to impact fast rate of economic development. In Nigeria, policy on
adoption of Information and Communication Technologies was initiated in 1999,
when the civilian regime came into power of government. The operations of the
licensed telecommunication service providers in the country has created some
well-felt macroeconomic effects in terms of job creation, faster delivery
services, reduced transport costs, greater security and higher national output
(Emmanuel and Adebayo, 2011).
Attempts
to ensure sustainable economic development and poverty reduction of most
nations usually involve the development of agriculture, mining, industrial as
well as the service sectors. The Industrial Revolutions in Europe and America,
generally and specifically, have been premised on technological breakthroughs.
During the late 1990s, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was the
largest contributor to growth within capital services for both Canada and the
United States (Harchaoui, 2002). Similar trend has been observed with the
economic development of China, Korea, Taiwan, India, South Africa, and other
emerging economic powers (Fuss and Waverman, 2005).
At
the wake of 2000, the Federal Government of Nigeria embarked on an aggressive
drive towards the provision of more efficient services in the nation through
its privatization and deregulation policies the ICT subsector. The policy
thrives led to the establishment of National Telecommunication Policy in
December 2001. The policy, among other things, recognized the need for the
establishment of an enabling environment for deregulation and rapid expansion
of the telecommunication services in the country. The mission statement of the
government was to use ICTs for Education, Creation of Wealth, Poverty
Eradication, Job Creation, and Global Competitiveness. The policy objective was
to develop globally competitive quality manpower in ICTs and related
disciplines. This entails developing a pool of ICT engineers, scientists,
technicians and software developers. Consequently, attractive career
opportunities will emerge in addition to development of software’s and computer
components that can earn the nation some foreign exchange. The implementation
of ICTs policy led to the adoption of Global System for Mobile-Communications
(GSM) and its related components in Nigeria.
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In
Nigeria, provision of public infrastructure is grossly inadequate and poor.
Necessary telecommunication services, as public infrastructure, needed for
meaningful investment are lacking and, where found, are very costly.
Teledensity in Nigeria is still very low.
The
introduction of the GSM in Nigeria was to expand the teledensity in the country
and to make telephone services cheaper and accessible to the common person as
it had been introduced in some African countries like South Africa, Ghana, and
Benin Republic among others. GSM is ICT based telecommunication that can
contribute to the growth and development of any nation. These Telecommunication
Networks have created significant effects on the gross domestic product (GDP)
of Nigeria in terms of job creation, communication linkages, connectivity,
security of lives, and reduced transport costs among other. Past studies on the
developing economy have bothered on the challenges and roles of ICTs on
economic growth (Carayamis and Popescu, 2005; Ndukwe, 2003, 2004; Igwe, 2005).
Thus, this study examines the impact of ICT on the Nigerian economic growth and
development.
1.3
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
general objective of this study is to analyze the impact of ICT on the Nigerian
economic growth and development and the following are the specific objectives:
To
examine the impact of ICT on the Nigerian economic growth and development.
To
identify ways by which ICT can contribute to economic growth and development.
To
determine the factor limiting the use of ICT in all sectors of the Nigerian
economy.
1.4
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What
is the impact of ICT on the Nigerian economic growth and development?
What
are the ways by which ICT can contribute to economic growth and development?
What
are the factors limiting the use of ICT in all sectors of the Nigerian economy?
1.5
HYPOTHESIS
HO:
ICT has not contributed to Nigerian economic growth and development.
HA:
ICT has contributed to Nigerian economic growth and development.
1.6
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
The
outcome of this study will be a useful guide to the government of Nigeria,
policy makers and the general public on how ICT can be used as a tool for
economic growth and development of Nigeria.
This
research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers
interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if
applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic
1.7
SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study on the impact of ICT on Nigerian economic growth and development will
covers every area of ICT used in Nigeria and its effect on the economic growth
and development.
LIMITATION
OF STUDY
Financial
constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher
in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the
process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time
constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other
academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the
research work.