Jaajef M.Sedi, Maybe the answer to Mr Akhigbe's complaints about low internet usage in Africa is not unrelated to the posting by M.K.Saidy about: "70% Nigerians live below poverty line". Whilst we can see the advantages of the internet, maybe for most people access to running water, school and education is more of a priority. Yeendu ak jaama Tony ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> "M. Sedi" <[log in to unmask]> 12/May/1999 09:45pm >>> Wednesday, May 12, 1999 Akhigbe decries Africa's low internet patronage >From Sunny Aragba-Akpore, Abuja AFRICAN countries would continue to be marginalised by the rest of the world unless they quickly embrace the uses of internet and join the global village, Vice Admiral Okhai Mike Akhigbe said yesterday in Abuja. Speaking at the opening of the first African Internet Summit holding at the ECOWAS Secretariat in the Federal Capital city, he said the world is moving at a very fast pace and unless African countries imbibe the internet as a way of life, they will suffer stunted economic development as a result of their inability to accept and apply those new technologies. Except for the local academic communities, individual enterpreneurs and international organisations that have embraced the uses of the internet, there is a general low level of usage in the continent. "Some observers have expressed the fear that it will only accelerate the marginalisation of Africa, as the pace of growth accelerates even more and the resultant gap between developed and under-developed would become more profound", Admiral Akhigbe added. Experts have observed that African countries occupy the lowest rung of internet users as the continent accounts for only 800,000 or 0.54 per cent of the global internet user population estimated at 150 million. The United States (USA) has about 79 million users, Europe (34 million) and Asia/Pacific about 24 million. "These statistics about Internet in Africa are not only revealing but also disturbing", he lamented. The CGS, however, blamed this low usage on a number of factors. As he put it: "While most developing countries are experiencing fairly rapid extension and modernisation of their telecommunications networks, Sub-Saharan Africa has a stagnant teledensity over the last 10 years." This teledensity remains at less than 200 persons to a telephone line. This is contrary to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) prescription of a maximum of 100 persons to a line. According to Admiral Akhigbe: "Most of the telecoms network is analogue and many sections are highly unreliable especially during the rainy season and since the utility of the Internet depends to a great extent on the quality of underlying telecoms infrastructure, the poor quality of the network remains a basic impediment to rapid development in this area." He said, African nations should coordinate a project that would link all of them together thereby bridging the gap for information flow. The chief executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Chief Ogbonna Iromantu, whose organisation hosted the summit, dwelt largely on the uses of the Internet. According to him, the convergence of computing and telecommunications has unleashed the technology of the Internet "which is bound, in the long run, to change the way we conduct our everyday life and business, ranging from education, the practice of medicine to the conduct of business and trade". Iromantu called for the restructuring "of our laws and conduct of politics and governance in order to influence our use of the Internet". He said the NCC has been motivated by the fact that Internet business will exceed over $1 trillion by the turn of the century and will change both the global economy and the political arena. According to him: "All experts are firmly agreed on this and Africa is relevant", adding that the question is "how" Africa can be connected and not when because "the time is now". Science and Technology Minister Maj.-Gen. Sam Momah, Communications Minister, Air Vice Marshal Canice Umenwaliri, his Ghanaian counterpart and former classmate to the CGS, Commander PMG Griffith, were among dignitaries at the occasion. There were also Permanent Secretary, Communications Ministry, Dr. Jantiku Mamza and the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Prof. Buba Bajoga and his Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications Limited (M. Tel) counterpart, Alhaji Ismaila Mohammed. Others include former Communications Secretary, Chief Oluwole Adeosun, pioneer Chairman of NCC, Chief Teju Oyeleye and former Petroleum Resources Minister, Chief Don Etiebet. -- THE GUARDIAN --