Telecommunication and Access to Information in Rural Areas of Nigeria

Abstract

The rural areas of Nigeria are inhabited by the bulk of the nation’s population. They are also the major sources of capital formation for the country, and a principal market for domestic manufacturers. Yet, the amount of reliable and usable information reaching rural dwellers is almost negligible, yet they constitute the backbone of  development both in agricultural economy and industrialization. One major reason for this has been the differential access to telecommunication infrastructure between the rural and urban areas. The realization of this has prompted many governments in developing countries to extend telecommunication infrastructure to their rural areas. However, relatively little is known about the impact of this infrastructure on access to information in the rural areas in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper therefore, is to examine the impact of telecommunication on the accessibility of information in rural communities in Nigeria. The analysis of the data shows that majority of them still rely on information  communication as their major means of receiving information. The implication of this is that the effort of government in providing telecommunication infrastructure in the rural areas in Nigeria is yet to yield any appreciable impact. The paper therefore advocates that government should provide more infrastructure and ICT training programmes to enhance the utilization of the available telecommunication services in Nigeria

KEYWORDS: Access; Information; Nigeria–Rural Areas; Telecommunication