Centre calls for establishment of community networks to bridge digital gaps

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has called on the government at all levels to consider establishing community networks to bridge the digital gaps across various communities in the country.

The centre, in a press conference in Kano, said the call became necessary sequel to the need to have internet access in the rural areas, noting that lack of it was contributing to the backwardness of the communities.

Community Network Project Coordinator of CITAD, Haruna Adamu Hadejia, said it was worrying that about half of Nigerians had no access to the internet, noting that in the present context, the uncertainty of the digital divide was known by the Nigerian government and its agencies.

He said, “According to government statistics, only about half of Nigerians have access to the internet. This means that within the country, an estimated population of over 100 million people is already left behind and excluded from the benefits of the internet and other technological advantages.

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“Thus, the internal dimension of the digital divide is what we as citizens and as a country should stand to address.

“We are all aware that, in Nigeria, as in many other countries, technology rollout is market-driven, which implies that companies are willing to invest in infrastructure for connectivity only for areas where profits are assured, and they are unlikely to invest in poor communities or communities that are sparsely popu-lated that the telecommunication traffic cannot support profitably.”

While acknowledging that this is not unique to Nigeria, he said many countries had solved the problem by deploying other models of rollout such as community networks to complement market-driven rollout.

He further said, “The bridging of the connectivity gap in the country remains futile because we do not have a national policy to guide their emergence and provide a supportive environment for communities to leverage various opportunities to bridge the connectivity gaps.

“For the last two years, CITAD has been engaging the policy makers, especially the Minister of Commu-nication and Digital Economy, the telecommunication regulator – the Nigerian Communications Commis-sion (NCC) – and other stakeholders in the country such as NITDA and Galaxy Backbone with the aim of arriving at a consensus on developing a national policy for community networks.”