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FG, Key to
Full Internet Connectivity
Post Express - March
20, 1997
Page 18
By
March Oyinki
The
Internet sprouted from what was then a national computer network
project called ARPANET, which was under the control of the Advanced
Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an agency within the United States
Department of Defence. The first countries to be connected to the
Internet outside the U.S were England and Norway in 1973, and it was
mostly used by universities, polytechnics and research agencies.
Now, there are over a hundred countries with full Internet
connectivity out of which only 11 are from the African continent
(with the exclusion of Nigeria).
Developments on the Internet in recent times had been very rapid, making it the world’s most advanced medium of communication with an installed base
of over 50 million computers users linked worldwide, and an approximate annual growth rate of 2000 percent. The Internet is by far the fastest growing segment in the information technology industry. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, corroborated this fact
when he said: “The surging popularity of the internet communications network is the most important single development in the computer industry since the IBM PC was introduced in 1981.” The Internet is no doubt the mother of modern communications
encompassing sound picture and text. The Web earned its famous acronyms of WWW from this unique multi-media functionality.
As
we approach the new millennium, business planners and policy makers
are exploiting new ways of gaining competitive business advantage,
and seeking ways of improving the lives of the populace. This can be
achieved largely by improved communication and information exchange
and accessibility.
The
Internet has turned the world into a global village, pulling down
barriers such as distance that hitherto separated countries.
Information accessibility is just a mouse-click away, reducing
transaction time around the globe to seconds, and at cost lower than
ever. The Internet is in every way an economy in itself. Every
aspect from its construction, content, communication tools, to the
people that make use of it, are marketable commodities.
In the words of Major General Sam Momah, the minister of Science and Technology, “Internet connectivity and all the benefits it would bring would help
in the realization of the vision of technologically developed Nigeria by the year 2020.“ No doubt therefore that, every Nigerian is conscious of the importance of achieving full Internet connectivity. The big question is, Why Haven’t We? When other
nations like Cote d’Voire, Zambia and Ghana have full Internet connectivity.
Quite
unexpectedly, the Minister of Communications Tajudeen Olanrewaju
provided a startling answer to the question in a recent speech at a
workshop organized by the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG) last
September, when he urged Internet service providers to ensure that
the services they offer were not used for obscene, seditious or
anti-state purposes, and went on to say that they should not expect
government support or funding.
We
need to re-examine closely, the key issues involved and resolve the
problems dynamically. All expressions of fear on the part of the
minister that the Internet may be used for obscene, seditious or
anti-state purposes should be allayed. It is now practicable for
countries to censor certain classified information from the
Internet. China is a good example and they have recorded significant
progress in this area.
On the issue of support and funding that should not have arisen, because it is NITEL’s responsibility to provide the required telephone lines needed
to operate the Internet functionally. ISDN lines or fibre optics cables are recommended for effective worldwide web connectivity. This forms the major reason why full Internet connectivity is in a stalemate. The issues of nodes and domain name are secondary.
The NIG really requires little direct support or funding from the Federal Government. What they desire as a matter of necessity is NITEL’s ISDN lines or fibre optics cables laid in Abuja, Lagos sand Port Harcourt at lease as a pilot scheme.
There is a lot of wisdom in Bill Gate’s statement when he said< “The Internet is like a tidal wave drowning those that do not learn to swim in
its waters.”
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