A Technology Expert, Jessica Eni, says that a community-centered approach, inclusive connectivity models and creation of workable policies can help accelerate Nigeria’s slow 5G adoption rate.
Eni, who is the Legal and Policy Programmes Officer for Techsocietal, a Tech-focused NGO, told the Newsmen on Saturday that non-affordability and absence of required infrastructure are major reasons for slow adoption of 5G.
She said that a lot of Nigerians could not afford to get 5G-enabled devices due to their high cost and expensive data requirements.
Eni said: “There’s a huge gap between the rural and urban areas in terms of Internet accessibility.
“There are some rural areas where internet is not available at all because some infrastructures are not readily available.
“There needs to be inclusive connectivity models, community-centered connectivity initiatives and also installations of public Wi-Fi at strategic locations to help in the workability of the network.”
She further added that local governments’ authorities needed to invest in deployment of infrastructures that could serve rural communities in their areas and also subsidise the cost of commercial data.
Eni added that rural areas needed to be included in conversations about broadband connectivity not just focusing on urban areas alone.
She said that the ratio of the population in rural to urban areas showed that rural populations should be a huge part of the infrastructure availability conversations.
The tech expert said that beyond infrastructure availability, there was the need for digital literacy and interest also.
“Some people do not want to be on the Internet due to the negative aspects of the Internet, hence, even if these infrastructures are available, they may not make use of it.
“A community-centered approach, inclusive connectivity models and creating workable policies are the solution,” Eni stressed.
Techsocietal is a Nigerian-based Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to promoting safe, protective and inclusive digital spaces.
