INTERNET CONNECTIVITY

World Bank says exposure to internet coverage after over three years has enhanced a 7% reduction in extreme poverty in Nigeria and Tanzania

The international financial institution adds that this exposure also led to an increase of 8% in labour force participation and wage employment.

A new brief by the bank highlights that over the past five years (2016 – 2021), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced an extraordinary 115% increase in internet users, a change that has been instrumental in spurring economic growth, fostering innovation, and creating job opportunities.

The Bretton Woods institution stressed its commitment to digital development in Africa with an investment of $731.8 million across 11 Digital Development projects over six years, with a broader allocation of $2.8 billion across 24 projects over the past decade.

These investments are part of a larger goal under the Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) initiative, which aims to digitally enable every individual, business, and government in Africa by 2030.

But the World Bank identifies challenges in the journey towards digital inclusivity, including the affordability of mobile connectivity and a persistent digital gender gap, <span;>despite the encouraging progress made

The cost of mobile internet remains high, and women are 37% less likely to use mobile internet compared to men.

These barriers highlight the need for continued efforts to make digital access more equitable and widespread.

The brief further read, “The region’s digital infrastructure coverage, access, and quality still lag other regions. At the end of 2021, while 84% of people in SSA lived in areas where 3G service was available, and 63% had access to 4G mobile coverage, only 22% were using mobile internet services.

The gap between coverage and usage is similarly large for broadband, with 61% of people in sub-Saharan Africa living within the broadband range but not using it.

“Affordability of mobile connectivity, measured by the price of one gigabyte (GB) of mobile data, is another major constraint. In 2019, the average cost of one GB of mobile internet as a percentage of monthly per-capita Gross National Income (GNI) was 10.5%, which is considerably higher than the 2% target recommended by the United Nations Broadband Commission.

“In addition, in 2021 the median cost of an entry-level internet-enabled handset amounted to more than 25.2% of monthly gross domestic product per capita”

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted that 63% of persons living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor and only about 12% of working-age Nigerians were engaged in wage employment.

Despite having over 5 million active internet subscriptions in Nigeria, the need for wider internet coverage to boost inclusive economic growth cannot be overemphasised.

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