A phone for every Nigerian by 2020

NIGERIA dreams of achieving a 100 percent tele-density by the year 2020 following massive telephone and mobile communication improvements, which are a major boost in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

If every Nigeria’s household has a telephone and a mobile phone, then the West African nation would be compared with first world countries such as Sweden and Norway in terms of ICT.

To date, Nigeria has an estimated total of about 140 million people being serviced by 60 phone lines, a 45 percent success rate in a development most ICT experts believe would help propel Nigeria’s economy and infrastructure.

The other important issue which needs to be quickly addressed, among the technological advancement requirements, is the installation of internet connectivity service in the country.

Speaking during a lecture on Leadership and Role Model Awards in the commercial capital, Lagos, recently, executive vice chairman of Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, said the 100 percent tele-density target was achievable by the year 2020.

“ICTs are in fact enablers of broad based socio and economic development. ICTs not only contribute to the development of education, health and governance, but are also key enablers of sustainable human development in a more general sense.

“No modern economy can thrive without an integral information technology and telecommunications infrastructure. This is because ICTs provide the veritable platform for development across the economic and other sectors if well harnessed,” said Ndukwe.

According to Ndukwe, if the goal is achieved, Nigeria would then have many phone lines that are set to grossly improve the lives of the local people in as far as communication through telephone, cellphone and internet is concerned.

To date, a ratio of 1:1 indicates that a Nigerian individual living in an urban centre owns three communication lines in the sense that at work and home an individual will be serviced by telephone lines and a mobile cellular phone, to make it three gadgets of communication. Internet would be the fourth such facility.

ITNewsAfrica.com, Lagos