IT Geographics
Unlike South Africa, Nigeria does not have an official information
technology center. As one would expect, much of the information technology
activity is concentrated in the larger cities and more heavily populated areas
although residents in rural areas are slowly beginning to partake in the
information technology revolution.
Within a month of this writing, the first
science and information technology park will open in Uyo,
Akwa Ibom State. The Uyo
technology park is powered by an independent power project to shield it from
the frequent power outages and the state has installed a Very Small Aperture
Terminal (VSAT) gateway to support Internet connectivity. Today Akwa Ibom has an Internet
connectivity of 128 kilobits per second.
The Uyo
technology park is not the only technology park on the horizon. The West
African Institute for Information and Communication Technology is scheduled to
construct a technology park in Asaba, Delta State. This center will train information and
communication technology students and will serve as a hub of research,
development and commercial activity. The center expects to recruit its first
set of students in October 2003.
As previously
mentioned, much of the It activity is centered in the larger cities. To help
city dwellers become more computer literate and connect them with the rest of
the world, technology centers are springing up around the country. In
collaboration with the U.S. State Department and other U.S. agencies, in February 2002, Nigeria has opened the Bola Ige
IT Centre in Abuja. The center is the first of six that
will be opened in the six geo-political zones throughout the country. The
center in Abuja has 40 computers with Internet access;
offers computers courses; video conferencing facilities; and other business
services. The plans call for the other centers to have a similar set-up.
