Technology Development In Nigeria Part 2

An Overview Of Technology Development In Nigeria Since Independence From Colonial Rule – Part 2

“Nigeria: The giant of Africa.” If you are Nigerian, you will almost cringe at the sound of this statement. You have probably even heard it a million times over, and you might have asked yourself if it is indeed true. What do we have? Material resources? A very large population? Can we live up to the hype as the renowned Giant of Africa?

Technology is vastly becoming the thing that drives and is driving the economies of many world nations. Soon, for an economy to fully qualify as “Giant”, its technology stance, development, and adoption will play a substantial unwavering role. It is no news that as the days go by, technology keeps altering life as we know it and causes systems to run even better than they used to years back. By years back, it will be interesting to look at Nigeria’s journey with technology from the time we became free, 1960, till date.

After gaining its independence in 1960, there would have been positivity in the air on the future of Nigeria, but we can’t help but ponder Nigeria’s technology landscape. Nigeria’s first big breakthrough in technology adoption was in 1963. Three years after her independence, Nigeria welcomed her first digital computer, and it was used in the processing of the national census data. IBM then set up an African Education Centre for Computing at University College, Ibadan, the same year.
By 1973, the number of Computers in the country had grown to about 20-25 computers. With the growth in the number of Computers within the country, it was essential also to develop people in technological skills. So, in 1975, computer science courses began to be taught in many other universities across the country. In 1978, the Computer Association of Nigeria (CAN) was inducted.

1982 saw the beginning of a new era in the digital space as many Nigerian banks began to computerise their processes. The digital adoption by banks further paved the way for the first microcomputer exhibition in Lagos by Ogis and Ododo in 1983. It is to be noted that Nigeria’s technology development in the 1980s was a period of technological stagnation as no new upsurge in computers were recorded.

In 1997, Nigeria had imported over 550,000 computer systems, including radio receivers, radiotelephonic receivers and broadcast receivers, constituting 35.7%, 15.3% and 14.0% respectively of Nigeria’s imports within a 10-years period of 1993-2003. Mobile phones were introduced to the Nigerian market in 2001, and many assumed that mobile phones were not for the masses. Look at us now, and you might even be reading this from a mobile phone. With the advent of social media platforms like Facebook in 2004, we can say that Nigeria is not missing out on the Smartphone era.

Currently, technology is sweeping all over Nigeria with a new wave of Financial Technology adoptions (The FinTech era), Bitcoin, Forex, and even the introduction of remote jobs eased in by the COVID 19 pandemic. Last year notably witnessed a new wave of these critical technological factors.

We have come a long way in technology adoption and development. Still, there is a lot to be done. The Nigeria government at all levels must increase budgetary allocation to technology and take proactive steps to promote and encourage innovation at all levels of schooling education.

And on this note, it is heartening to learn about the Nigeria startup bill project, a joint initiative by Nigeria’s tech ecosystem and the Nigeria federal government to harness the potential of the country’s digital economy through laws and regulations. Other countries have similar laws aimed at unlocking the tech sector potential and we hope that the bill will build on lessons from those countries to help position Nigeria as a technology giant in Africa.

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