Abstract

Polycarp Monagor , Roy E. Ekpo , Sam I. Akiri , Esisi Warra and H.P Udaya

Within barely 15 to 20 years, information and communication technologies (ICTs)-driven new digital economy and high competition for global market share has engendered hunger for knowledge as one of the main drivers of economic development factor for cities, states, nations and organizations in advanced nations. For Nigeria, presenting scandalous poverty, afflicting 70 to 89% of its mostly rural and digitally excluded people, the need for building capacity in ICT is urgent and imperative. This paper examines the problem of lopsidedness in web assistance to secondary schools by Nigeria’s Federal Government through the Schoolnet’s Diginet programme. Models for promoting Internet use in Africa and Asia are presented. The method of geodemographic analysis was used to highlight inequalities in web assistance to Nigerian secondary (high) schools by computing per capita web assistance for secondary schools in Nigeria’s 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (Abuja). The results show that the highest share of web assistance to schools went to Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), with a per capita web assistance of 3.56 x 10-6 . The lowest web assistance shares were given to Kano and Lagos with per capita web assistance of 4.26 x 10-7 and 4.44 x 10-7 respectively. The value added by geodemographic analysis is demonstrated by highlighting the lowest per capita shares for Kano and Lagos highlighting interaction between high population sizes of these two most populous states (Kano: 9,383,682 and Lagos: 9,013,534) compared to other Nigerian states. It is argued that greater success in delivering social justice is achievable by applying evidence-based policy derived from geodemographic analysis in sharing web assistance that is commensurate with the populations’ need. While the use of population size is the starting point of this geodemographic method, other demographic variables (school aged youth, gender and so forth) may be used in further studies of this and related subjects. Such a transparent method promises to attract public-private partnership that Nigeria’s Federal Government has been inviting to manage schools in the country. Moreover, it avoids recurrent problems of inequality in resource allocation that has perpetually decimated Nigeria’s development programmes and processes