Project Management Techniques in the Information Sector in Nigeria - Case Study Example

CRITICAL EVALUATION OF HOW DEVELOPING COUNTRIES UTILIZE ICT TECHNOLOGY: A CASE STUDY OF SUB SAHARAN AFRICA NIGERIA. Internet and Technology have changed the way the world communicates. Distance is just a figure in the mind, communication has become instantaneous in today’s global village. New and user-friendly technology has made communication and transactions easy and quick. Sitting in one remote corner of the world, one can communicate with a person in the other corner through the internet. As laptops are very expensive, a cost effective tool in ICT would be the mobile phone. With technological improvements like wi-fi and Internet access, cell phones are today used as phones, cameras, music systems, instruments for recording and transmitting data, besides functioning as a tool for storing and finding data. Commerce to E-commerce to M-commerce seems to be logical way for any government or individual to scale up. Research Questions 1. How far has the Nigerian Government/State been responsible for the growth and utilization of ICT related to mobile telephony? Or What are the initiatives/incentives provided by the State in implementing the growth of ICT through mobile telephony in Nigeria? 2. What are the challenges facing the public sector /Government in successfully implementing ICT in every nook and corner of Nigeria? 3. What has been the role of private operators in the growth of ICT through mobile telephony in Nigeria? Or ICT through Mobile Phones as tools for sustainable development and economic competitiveness in Nigeria Objectives 1. To establish the need for popularizing the mobile phone as a tool for ICT. 2. To work out the cost-benefit ratio to the user if mobile is used for communications as compared to traditional means of communication. 3. To evaluate the success of the policy makers/government /implementing agencies in spreading messages through mobile communication (sms service etc.) 4. To estimate the Cost –benefit ratio to the policy makers/government/implementing agencies if mobile telephony is used for official communication to the citizens. 5. Mobile phones as agents of change in bringing about economic growth and sustainable development in Nigeria Methodology Since the paper is based on secondary research, various data and reports already available with the respective agencies, newspapers and other publications will be compiled, analyzed and used to draw conclusions. Review of Literature/Publications available There have been various studies undertaken by both individuals and organizations to analyze and evaluate the utilization of ICT (Internet Communication Technology) in Nigeria. Gabriel Ajayi (NITDA and ICT in Nigeria,2003) has asserted that after NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) was set up in 2001, projects like Public Service Network (PSNet), Mobile Internet Unit (MIU) and Human Capacity Development were undertaken by the same. NITDA started the process of integrating IT into the public service through a massive campaign that targeted at the top echelon of the service. Although he was optimistic about the crucial role ICT played in gearing up the economy, he did not seem very hopeful about funding and political will. After the military rule ended in 1999, there were unfounded fears about the use of ICT in any industry and government will to encourage ICT lacked enthusiasm. From 2001, ICT enjoyed the complete backing of the government and has been looked at as a tool to bring about sustainable development and global competitiveness in Nigeria. GSM service was launched in 2001 and teledensity immediately rose from 0.5 to 2 per 100 subscribers. In the paper “Nigeria’s Need for ICT S.P.259 Technology and Policy in Nigeria”, Tom Goshit expressed his disappointment with the state of utilization of ICT in Nigeria. He felt that poverty and lack of skilled IT personnel were drawbacks in faster implementation and utilization of policies favoring ICT. However, when it came to use of mobile telephony and ICT, he says ‘As of December 2005, there were over 19,000,000 serviced cell phones in Nigeria. The mobile cellular market has grown because landline telephones require much more maintenance and continued expansion, which has been unsustainable.’ Cellular phones, which have a zero waiting period for the subscriber were proving useful in a number of ways. Goshit felt that ‘Nigerian adolescents who have WAP-enabled phones and smart phones have taken advantage of Internet connectivity. Wireless enabled cellular phones also allow young people to connect their personal computers to the Internet, which is made possible by GPRS (General Pocket Radio Service.)’He also felt that there is tremendous scope for using using ICT in the education sector. The ICT4D (ICT for Development) is a policy implemented by the Nigerian government for socio-economic development through ICT in Nigeria in January 2001. A review of this policy in 2007 declared that ‘The National Strategic Action Plan is to provide concrete implementation strategies over the next 5 years for the key sectors –health, education, infrastructure, human resource development, Agriculture, Legal/Regulations, private sector/industry, media/community, amongst others - as part of an integrated approach to achieving national development espoused through the new National Economic Empowerment Development Programme (NEEDS).’It is noteworthy that according to Businessday, Nigeria has been ranked as the fastest growing Telecommunications market according to a report by Actis. The report also states that there has been a tremendous growth in use of mobile phones as they are now available at very low rates and states that ‘the improvement in the telecom situation in Nigeria has made significant impact in all sectors - commerce, social and educational. Chiemeke &Longe (2007) assert that with the digital divide is getting smaller between the developed and developing nations, in terms of mobile subscribers, landline subscribers and satellite TV and Internet users. They feel that the deployment and use of mobile phones, especially for accessing services available over the Internet would accelerate the pace of national socio-economic development and growth in Nigeria. Like in other developing countries, in spite of a high level of ICT coverage, the usage by the local population of this service might be due to a variety of reasons like illiteracy, lack of interest or awareness or inability to pay. The study estimated the Inconvenient Access (ICA) which is measured by Total Possible Access (TPA) - Universal Service (US) +No Access (NA) in Nigeria to be 65% as opposed to 51.6% in South Africa. A study by World Bank on ICT penetration in Nigeria (2006) shows that while the GNI rose from $270 in 2000 to $620 in 2006, there was also a substantial increase in the use of fixed and mobile subscribers (0 to 25 %) during this period. However, other ICT access indicators like Internet users or PC owners did not show a significant rise. This could clearly show the inclination of the population to subscribe to mobile phone services and thus benefit from them. The rise in GDP during this period was from 2.7% to 6.0%. The E-government readiness index (0-1,1= most ready) was observed as 0.31% by the study. Thus, it might be safe to conclude that it the right time for the policy makers to initiate steps in e-governance and use ICT in mobile telephony for enhancing this process. E-commerce has given way to m-commerce. With the launch of GSM services in Nigeria in 2001, communication and exchange of information has undergone a sea change. According to Elegbeleye (2005), private investment in the telecom sector has been huge : second only to investment in oil in Nigeria. This investment was estimated at $ 2.1 billion in December 2002 and had reached $25 billion by June 2003.This reflects the tremendous potential and faith the GSM operators have in the population of Nigeria. Always having been a traditional and close-knit society, with urbanization, Nigerians felt the need to be in touch with people back home. The GSM was the perfect answer to this need. Other than communication at a personal level, mobile phones are also used to access and transmit messages about climatic hazards, disaster control and emergency management. An example where mobile phones were used to alert friends and relatives was the Ikeja cantonment disaster of January 2002.Similarly, alerts about natural calamities like floods or man made situations like traffic jams have been sent to mobile subscribers, warning them of the situation. According to www.wow.com, currently 800 million mobile and other mobile devices are in use globally, out of which 65 million users are in Nigeria itself. According to estimates by GartnerGroup, in 2004, at least 40% of business-to-consumer e-commerce will be initiated from smart phones supported by WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) . According to a paper submitted by Obe and Balogun, the scope of M Commerce could extend to banking, stock broking, advertising and shopping, e-salary, retailing, ticketing and a host of related services. They strongly feel that future of Mcommerce in Nigeria is very bright and the digital divide will be bridged soon as WAP gateways will be adopted by all organizations, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) will gain popularity and M-commerce act as a supplement to e-commerce. Challenges Facing M commerce in Nigeria While a few years back(2002), Nigeria was the third fastest growing country in terms of mobile subscription, there are various challenges facing the industry and its rapid up gradation to new and value added services. Okoegwale (2008) conducted a study on the challenges facing the growth of Mcommerce in Nigeria. In his words, “ For mobile value added services to deliver expected benefits in Nigeria, National mobile operators and 3G license holders must pay attention to overall service development , value chain reforming and commercial mode creation.” He also felt the need for more balanced and coordinated efforts from all links in the industry ofr them to be really competitive. While voice was the major revenue earner for the service providers in the past, new technology like 3G will be able to offer the customer more I terms of value added services(VAS).As the value added services have till now been popular only in providing content for entertainment purposes, it would require more coordinated efforts in the part of service provider and VAS provider to prompt the customer to use GSM services for other utility purposes. While the banking industry has provided customers with access to M commerce, there are very few takers for the service. Entertainment related VAS is popular because of its mass appeal and easy availability of content. As a majority of the subscribers use low end mobiles, it is difficult to provide VAS to these subscribers as the hand sets do not have the necessary features for utilizing these value added services. The population is unaware of services with high practical value as there are no marketing initiatives from the service provider’s end to educate the customer. There also seems to be lack of cooperation and coordination between mobile service providers and VAS providers, with no policy in place for Third party operators. With increasing competition, prices of VAS are also slated to come down. Once people actually learn to value the utility of services like GPRS, the subscription rate will shoot up, as right now, VAS is perceived only as a tool for entertainment. AS in any other part of the world, security and privacy problems could arise from unrestricted use of mobiles for commercial transactions and there could be middleware issues and protocol problems. Problems in connectivity could lead to unwanted delays and complications in transactions. Thus, it is up to the users and service providers to utilize the facilities judiciously and wisely. References 1. Ajayi, Gabriel, NITDA and ICT in Nigeria, 2003 Round Table on Developing Countries Access to Scientific Knowledge, The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italy http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:w4ULZdhJGecJ:www.ejds.org/meeting2003/ictp/papers/Ajayi.pdf+ICT+in+Nigeria&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in 2. Goshit,Tom.State of ICT Infrastructure in Nigeria: Nigeria’s Need for ICT S.P.259 Technology and Policy in Nigeria,2005. http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:enImTIwi8M4J:ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Special-Programs/SP-259Spring-2006/891209EE-E63B-4617-BA9D-7635A63C754B/0/goshit.pdf+ICT+in+Nigeria&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in 3. Bankole Olubamise , Jide Awe, NIGERIA ICT4D Annual Review 2007. http://www.jidaw.com/itsolutions/ict4dreview2007.html 4.Blessing AnaroBusinessday, Monday,June20th,2005,pg32. 6. http://www.comminit.com/en/node/148341/308 7. Chiemeke &Longe, Information and Communication Technology Penetration in Nigeria: Prospects, Challenges, and Metrics, Asian Journal of Information Technology 6 (3): 280 –287,2007 © Medwell journals, 2007. 8. World Bank Report, ICT at a Glance,Nigeria 9. Okoegwale, Emannuel. Challenges For Nigeria Mobile VAS in the 3G Era, Jan.2008. http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=8296. 10. Obe,O.O & Balogun,V.F.Practice, Trends and Challenges of Mobile Commerce in Nigeria, Information Technology Journal 6(3):448-456,2007 © Asian Network for Scientific Information. Read More