THE IMPACT OF INTERNET ON THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY

1.1 Introduction

The Internet is a global network of computers linked together over large distances. It was created by the American Military as a means of communication and has been in existence since the 1950’s. Up until the mid to late eighties commercial organizations and educational institutions mainly used the Internet. This was due to high costs. The Internet is a valuable source of information for students looking for ideas for projects and assignments. With over 50 million web sites on the net the chances are any information however obscure can be found. The only tools required to find this information would be some patience and a decent search engine. It also serves as a useful tool for lecturers in helping to prepare lesson plans as there are a number of sites, especially in America, dedicated to providing educational material.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The internet which represents a strong fusion of computing and communication technologies, has recorded an outstanding growth in the past few years of its existence. While this may be attributed to the recent advance in both technologies, the main driving force seems however to be the general demand for better and faster information management system. This singular factor has steered computing to its height presently in the area of communication.

Today, things have changed. The internet has revolutionized human communication to the point that one can easily be in touch with some on in a distance land in a matter of seconds. This means that the internet has weakened the apparent geographical and technological factors that tend to limit human communication. However, the entire epoch of Nigerian society is regrettable painful to all level of communication efficiency in this modern information age because, the country still limp behind in terms of internet in the world. While, in some countries like America, Germany and Britain, internet evolved and simultaneously entered into their everyday lives with a dizzying speed and a flurry of few development high speed access. And the new ways of getting services, graphic, rich interface, the internet has become a part of their everyday activities. Thus, the stage in their societies has gone beyond the crude oral communication, the ancient telephone and outing postal communication, the obstacle printing press.

The net technology such as the e mail, world wide web, the interface, mobile system, and computer improved services have become part and parcel of their daily lives, either in the pursuit of their business, inclination and fastening of symphony of social relationship and brotherhood with other. Currently, the Africa internet market environment seems to be the fastest internet environment in the world. However, the infrastructure which permits rapid long term expansion of the internet is still lacking in Africa. The rapid development of technology has seen improvement in communication links and a lowering of costs. The implication of this is that the Internet is now more widely available to more people. Since the Internet is now available to a wide sector of the population in the western world many educational establishments have seized on its educational potential.

Communication as it may is the most popular internet activity which impact cannot be overemphasis. In view of the fact that communication by its very nature; especially in this Jet age is the product of internet. The various complex electronic advances made under the planning of some aspects of communication are nothing but Internet technology at work. Therefore, whatever growth to be recorded in communication is a reflection of advancement in new information superhighway (Deusch land, 2000, p: 22)

To critically examine the role of the internet in elevating communication efficiency in Nigeria, there is need to know that in the very beginning, human interaction cum communication where limited to ting hamlets where population began to increase and spread all over the surface of the earth, reaching out to people in divert area, it become a near impossibility. Before now, factors like geographical isolation, low level of technology and unawareness of the outside world among other things combined to tractate the process of communication.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Internet on the Nigerian Society.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that despite the level of internet awareness in Nigeria, the country still limps on the slow lane in terms of usage of the internet. This has been a major problem in the Nigerian society. According to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the growth of the internet as enormous with the number of users reaching 103 million in May, 2018; this was an impressive growth from 28 million internet users recorded in 2012.

This figure of the internet subscribers’ data highlights the importance and the value of internet in the society. This shows that about 55% of the total total population are connected to internet, while many more in the rural areas are not. This is because, communication technology according to Busbay (1998, p: 9) “must be accessible to the common persons in the society before, it could be regarded as a mass medium”. Also Lee, (2006, p: 4) submits that, “the power of web is in its universality, accessibility to everyone regardless of their locations, background and disability is an essential aspect”.

Going by these, one can say that Nigeria is still backward in terms of internet accessibility especially in the rural areas. However, this statement is invalid until it is proven beyond any reasonable doubt. It is therefore, the main objective of this study, to evaluate the impacts of the internet on the Nigerian society, and as well find out some of the hindrances to the accessibility and usage of the internet as means of communication in Nigeria, and proffer a possible solution on how to improve the services of ISPs in Nigeria, so as to enhance internet usage in Nigeria.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Internet on the Nigerian Society. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To find out whether the internet has in helped in elevating communication efficiency in Nigeria society, in the least previous years;
2. To find out some of the hindrances of internet services in Nigeria society;
3. To measure the rate of internet usage in Nigeria society; and
4. To Suggest, possible ways of improving internet services in Nigeria.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Has the internet helped in elevating communication efficiency in Nigeria society?
• How will you rate the usage of internet in Nigeria society?
• How can internet services in Nigeria society be improved?
• What are the hindrances to the internet services in Nigeria society?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: The internet has not helped in elevating communication efficiency in Nigeria.
• H1: The internet has helped in elevating communication efficiency in Nigeria.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: The internet usage in Nigeria is not okay.
• H1: The internet usage in Nigeria is okay.

Hypothesis Three

• H0: There are no hindrances to the internet services in Nigeria.
• H1: There are hindrances to the internet services in Nigeria.

Hypothesis Four

• H0: Internet services in Nigeria cannot be improved.
• H1: Internet services in Nigeria can be improved.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The significance of this study is no doubt very enormous that it is better described as a revolutionary study into an entire new age of information technology and dissemination which has also been known as communication revolution millennium. The study therefore promises to be of great benefits to the following.

1. To the students and future researches, it will serve as harvest of knowledge and discovery of hidden, silent ideas about internet communication culture in Nigeria. It is axiomatic to posit that this study will ensure the researchers of not only knowledge, but the aspiration, zeal and to explore more horizons in this virgin topic.
2. To the society, organizations and her agencies, it will not only help them to see the need to imbibe the internet culture into their environment, but will equally enable them give support, incentives and motivations towards a sustainability of this eventual ideas and communication agenda.
3. The beginners in communication industry will see the internet as effective, efficient communication tool. And help them make the necessary use of the internet in every area of their lives.
4. Finally, this study will help to find the solution to Nigerian’s sick movement in the technological race.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Impact of Internet on the Nigerian Society. This study is very wide, if it has to be carried out nationwide, but for the purpose of this study, the study will only cover the impact of internet on Nigeria society using Owerri metropolis as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

In the process of conducting and finding presentation of this study, there are some technical words that needed to be defined for better understanding.

Evaluation: To judge how good, useful, or successful something is.

Role: Function that a period or what a thing typically have or is expected to have.

Communication: The process by which people exchange information or express their thought and feeling.

Internet: A computer system that allows millions of users around the world to exchange information.