Information, Communication, and Technology in Developing Countries: The Impediment to Nigeria Economic Growth

Author

Fatima Ali Muhammed, CUNY City CollegeFollow

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Department

International Relations

First Advisor

Bruce Cronin

Second Advisor

Jacques Fomerand

Keywords

ICT, economic growth, advanced technology, developing countries, digital divide, internet

Abstract

Technological revolution has shifted the world to a post-industrial society as information communication and technology (ICT) govern the centrality of human interaction. ICT has become widely influential at all levels of life, especially socially and economically.

In the 21st century, innovative technologies have become a crucial element of accelerating all factors of production to deliver rapid and effective results in every sector of the economy. The Internet, as a component of ICT, has become the global computing network that facilitates the access, analysis and dissemination of infinite information rapidly using advanced technology.

Policy makers, researchers, business leaders, academics are all focusing on exploitation of technological innovation to transform economic development and growth.

With countries taking necessary measures to adapt to the technological landscape through committing investment into the research of ICT and deployment at the various sectors of their economy, existing studies on information technologies suggest developing countries are slow to take advantage of the multifaceted benefits revolving around ICT, especially in Sub-Saharan African countries.

The leading constraints most developing countries encounter, especially in a time when the world considers the evolution of technology advancement as a critical economic indicator includes inadequate infrastructure, poor internet connection, high level of illiteracy, costly equipment, sporadic power supply, and lack of ICT-related policy.

This study researches the impediment of ICT in the following developing countries, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, and uses Nigeria as a case study to depict economic impact for countries neglecting the integration of ICT integration.

The major part of this study focuses on ICT integration in Nigeria by studying how the timely introduction of ICT from the primary education level could generate an ICT-skilled workforce that supports economic growth. Further in the study, I evaluate Nigeria's primary school ICT curriculum and determine students' exposure to computer science and the consistency across other levels of education.

To assess Nigeria students' exposure to advanced technology at the early education level, I conducted a survey on computer literacy level at the early education stage. 158 volunteers from Nigeria answered 15 self-assessed computer-based questionnaires for this research. Using rank analysis, the result shows that most of the participants didn’t gain productive ICT skills at the primary school level and sometimes at the higher education level.

Recommended Citation

Ali Muhammed, Fatima, "Information, Communication, and Technology in Developing Countries: The Impediment to Nigeria Economic Growth" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1092