Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) pioneered the invention of the telephone in 1876. His interests in the education of deaf people lead him to invent the microphone and, in 1876, his "electrical speech machine" became the modern day telephone. By 1878, Bell had set up the first telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut. By 1884, long distance connections were made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City. The rest is now history. For example, Bell imagined great uses for his telephone but would he ever have imagined telephone lines being used to transmit video images? Since his death in 1922, the telecommunication industry has undergone an amazing revolution.  

Today, non-hearing people are able to use a special display telephone to communicate. Unlike the traditional copper wire, today, fibre optics and orbiting satellite constellations are improving the quality and speed of voice, data and video transmissions globally. Actually, your ability to access this information relies upon telecommunications and computing technologies. Bell's "electrical speech machine" paved the way for the Information Superhighway (otherwise popularly known as the internet).  

Computer and software engineering are the next very important and crucial inventions and developments that paved the way for today’s modern ICT usage. For example, from 1939 when Hewlett Packard Computer Company was founded by the duo of David Packard and Bill Hewlett in a Palo Alto, California garage that produced their first product, the HP 200A Audio Oscillator to April 1994 when Mosaic Communications Corporation (later renamed Netscape Communications Corporation) founded by Marc Andreessen, Jim Clark and others delivered its first browser in October of 1994, a lot of significant developments have been taking place in the ICT revolution ushered in the last decades of the 20^th Century. 

For example, after HP 200A, the modern mechanical computing machine that emerged was ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, commissioned in 1946. ENIAC was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems, although earlier computers had been built with some of these properties. Today, 61 years since ENIAC launched the world into the Computing Age; it is difficult to imagine how we could manage without the myriad electronic devices that we utilize each day. From our cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cameras to our automobiles, airplanes, medical equipment and devices, electronics is the engine driving us forward. 

These developments continue to provide new features and products that began the Internet boom of the 1990s to date. For example, Stanford graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo founded YAHOO in 1994.Yahoo started out as “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web” before being renamed founded Yahoo. Yahoo originally resided on two machines, Akebono and Konishiki, both named after famous Sumo wrestlers. Yahoo would quickly expand to become one of the Internet’s most popular search engines today.  

Another development in this direction was the emergence of the GOOGLE phenomenon that also began in 1996-1998. Today, Google has overtaken Yahoo as the most favoured internet search engine globally. Again, two Stanford University graduate students Larry Page then 24 years and Sergey Brin then 23 years respectively, invented the unique approach to solving one of computing's biggest challenges: retrieving relevant information from a massive set of data on the internet. Their invention metamorphosed into a product nicknamed Google and they co-founded a company that bears the same name: Google Inc.  

These key developments were responsible for ushering the ICT revolution of which the present day state of mass ICT products development and usage are phenomenal. However, how do nations fear in this global phenomenon today? An analysis provided by Richard Wray, Communications Editor of The Guardian Newspapers (UK), Thursday June 14 2007, page 29 seems to provide the answer to this pertinent question. Richard’s analysis has been incorporated in this write-up. For example, Richard highlighted the following developments in his analysis: that almost 300 million people worldwide are now accessing the internet using fast broadband connections, fuelling the growth of social networking services such as MySpace and generating thousands of hours of video through websites such as YouTube. 

Quoting from an internet consultancy Point Topic, Richard highlighted that there are more than 1.1 billion of the world’s estimated 6.6 billion people online and almost a third of them are now accessing the internet on high-speed lines. According to the internet consultancy Point Topic, 298 million people had broadband at the end of March 2007 and that is already estimated to have shot over 300 million. The statistics, however, paint a picture of a divided digital world. The report also points that, while there are high levels of broadband penetration in Western Europe, North America and hi-tech economies such as South Korea, usage in developing countries, and especially in Africa, is pitiful. Many of these emerging economies lack telephone services, let alone the sort of broadband internet access that has become available to every household in Europe. 

Furthermore, the report shows that in terms of total broadband users, the US leads the pack with more than 60 million subscribers. But second placed China is fast closing the gap. From 41 million users a year ago (2006), China now has more than 56 million and looked set to overtake the US as the world’s largest broadband market this year. In addition, according to the survey report, it was discovered that China has leapt ahead and actually had more people signed-up to broadband in the first three months of this year than in any other earlier quarter.” 

Moreover, it was discovered from the survey that China’s rampant growth is a result of economic changes and government intervention. The country’s economic boom has helped create an affluent urban middle class clamouring for the social aspects of internet access, while the government has been driving the rollout of internet access in rural areas. Furthermore, next year’s Beijing Olympics has provided a fillip to the market with the government demanding that every household in the capital has high-speed broadband internet access in time for the games. 

Japan ranked third, with 26.5 million broadband users at the end of March this year, while Germany is fourth at more than 16 million. France scored the highest growth (9.0%) in take-up among the top 10 broadband nations to leapfrog South Korea – 14.1 million – to take the fifth spot with 15.3 million.  

The UK came in sixth with just 14 million broadband users at the end of March 2007, up 6.4%. Demand in the UK has been driven by fierce competition from the satellite broadcaster SKY, which launched its broadband service last year, and the introduction of “free” broadband offers from firms such as TalkTalk. Nevertheless, in terms of broadband usage as a percentage of households, the UK’s position in the global rankings slips to number 17, with 55.5% of households connecting to the internet as high speed. 

According to the analysis, based on broadband penetration, South Korea is by far the world’s top broadband user with nearly 90% of the households online. Several small economically vibrant and densely populated states are also high on the list such as Hong Kong, Monaco and Macau. The US, with broadband penetration at just fewer than 53%, is in 24^th place. Penetration in China, meanwhile, is 14.35% while in India penetration stands at just 1.15% of the country’s estimated 200 million households. 

Penetration levels in Eastern Europe, meanwhile, may be low but the region scored the highest overall level of growth in take-up, becoming the only area to show growth of more than 10%. The region’s economic rehabilitation, in part thanks to the inclusion of several states in the expanded EU, is driving take-up, according to Point Topic. Poland saw growth in new broadband connection of 9%, Bulgaria at 10.94%, Ukraine at nearly 15% and Croatia at a staggering 25%. 

According to Ms Mueller of the internet consultancy Point Topic, penetration of broadband in Eastern Europe was really low, but it is starting to catch up with Europe and we expect Eastern Europe to continue to grow. In fact, Indonesia scored the highst growth across the world in the first quarter – almost 28% - but from a very low base. Greece meanwhile was second with growth of over 26% due to the rather late introduction of broadband by incumbent operator OTE. 

The figures, however, show just how large gap is between the digital haves and have-nots. Many sub-Saharan African states do not register in the figures at all: only South Africa, Sudan, Senegal, and Gabon make it on the list. With household broadband penetration running from 1.79% in South Africa, with 215, 000 users at the end of March 2007, to just 0.05% in Sudan with a mere 3,000. North African states fare slightly better with Morocco scoring 6.78% penetration with 418,000 users, and Egypt at 1.55% or 240,000. Many African states are now looking to mobile phone companies to provide access to the internet as they struggle to find a place at the digital table. 

How prepared is Nigeria in facing this challenge of the 21^st Century? As indicated above, Africa is terribly lacking and lagging behind all nations in this global phenomenon of broadband internet access. Nigeria is amongst the African nations that do not register in the figures at all. That is fundamentally serious and unacceptable given Nigeria’s stature in African and world political economy. Nevertheless, that does not mean Nigeria has nothing to show in terms of ICT development and usage.  

However, at issue here is how prepared and serious is Nigeria in joining the pack of global ICT “haves” and not the “have nots.” On this note, I can vividly remember that in 1999 when former President Olusegun formed and inaugurated his first Cabinet, Alhaji Muhammad Arzika Tambuwal from Sokoto State emerged as Nigeria’s Minister of Communications. I paid him a private courtesy visit in his Sokoto residence and congratulated him for the important appointment and the great public task assigned to him by President Obasanjo.  

One thing that also triggered my private visit to the then Minister Arzika Tambuwal was my concern about the almost non-existence of internet access in Nigeria in 1999! I therefore used the opportunity of the visit to discuss this concern with him and offered my unsolicited advice to him on the way forward on this and other telecommunications problems facing the country then. He thanked me and asked me to send him a written memo on the issues I raised with him during my courtesy visit him. 

My memo to the then Minister Arzika Tambuwal focused on three areas. These were : poor state of existing telephone system (analogue and digital); the slow pace in the introduction of the Global System of Mobile telecommunication – GSM) technology and above all, the need to start thinking of building a national internet backbone and domestication of Nigeria’s top-level internet domain name registration (i.e., .ngccTLD). When he received the memo he again, thanked me and promised that he would pass it on to the relevant technical department of his ministry. Surprisingly and to my astonishment, I received a stinker from a technical adviser of the minister telling me that not all that I concocted in my memo to the Hon Minister were true as the Ministry of Communications and its relevant subsidiary technical outfits are on top of all the issues I raised. The rest is now history. 

The next level of our analysis is to take stock of what happened since my ill-fated attempt to voice a national concern on Nigeria’s preparedness in the ICT revolution. I start with the goodies first: the process of introducing GSM technology and its rollout. This process was actually initiated first, by the late General Sani Abacha’s regime and passed on to General Abdul salami Abubakar when Abacha died in June 1998. General Abdul salami’s 11 months reign (June 1998-May 1999) continued the process and handed it over to President Obasanjo in 1999. The process was sustained and completed during the eight years of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian administration (May 29 1999- May 29 2007).  

The next issues are on reforming the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to play a key role in the overall telecommunications sector reforms and the lingering crisis that beset the domestication of Nigeria’s internet country top level domain registration and administration. Beginning with the NCC first, the NCC was revamped, restructured and put on the right tract as the main regulatory body of Nigeria’s telecommunication sector. It has been doing its job fairly well to date. Secondly, concerning Nigeria’s internet country code top-level domain (.ng ccTLD) – a universal identifier used by a county for identification on the internet, that is, the two letters such as for example: dot ng [ .ng ] for Nigeria, the problem that beset its implementation and domestication here in Nigeria were only resolved with the personal intervention of then President Obasanjo. For example, all the principal stakeholders finally agreed that the newly established Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) of the ministry of Science and Technology be the authority to host, issue and administer Nigeria’s .ng ccTLD. The vexed and lingering contestations have now been laid to rest in the overall national interest of the country. 

However, the issue of the development of a national internet backbone for Nigeria – which is the most significant aspect of the development of internet access any where in world is still in a dilemma. The most recent development about this issue featured in the infamous Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) scandal. At issue was the controversial payments made from the accounts of the PTDF to a law firm belonging to the lawyer friend-cum-personal lawyer of the erstwhile president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to incorporate and fund the activities of a new federal government owned company by name Galaxy Backbone Plc.  

This development led the Nigerian Senate to raise an Ad-hoc Committee to look into the allegations surrounding the use of the PTDF resources to finance the incorporation of this company amongst other allegations against the Presidency made by the estranged Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The Senate closed this case and exonerated former President Obasanjo of any wrong doing in this regard. We are now left with finding out what this company is up to regarding its stated mandate, vision and mission. Although the existence of the Galaxy Backbone Plc is still surrounded by controversy, one of the final acts performed by President Obasanjo before leaving office was the launching of the company on May 24 2007, just five days to handing over to the new President Umaru Musa Yar Adua.  

At the launching of Galaxy Backbone Plc, Obasanjo explained why the company was formed. Some of the reasons he gave in justifying public expenditure on the company include:

1. The need to eliminate duplication of efforts and budgetary allocations by government entities to set up individual ICT infrastructures for their specific requirements

2. The support of the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through the provision of connectivity and solutions that will enable the delivery of programs in education, healthcare etc

3. Support the attainment of digital inclusion goals of providing connectivity to rural and undeserved communities in the country and

4. To set Nigeria on the path of becoming a major player in the global knowledge economy.

President Obasanjo further justified his government’s initial investment into Galaxy backbone Plc: first, because it discovered that returns on investment for the private sector would not come in the short run and second, to ensure digital inclusion across the country. These statements seem to contradict his administration’s main policy thrust of privatization that auctioned the flagship of the telecommunication sector, Nitel and M-Tel amongst other government-owned enterprises. It should be mention here that Nitel and M-Tel could have been the main vehicles for achieving the mandate, vision and mission set for the Galaxy Backbone Plc even if these two companies were placed in private hands.

Nevertheless, there are other contradictions surrounding the Galaxy Backbone Plc initiative. For example, President Obasanjo also informed Nigerians that the backbone would be built with optical fibre, wireless technology and satellite transmission and other complementary ICT initiatives such as the recently launched NIGCOMSAT-1. One would have thought that if this was the case, then Obasanjo should not have auctioned Nitel and M-Tel and start a fresh new public spending to put in place the same or similar facilities once again. This does not make any sense.

Similarly, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe who is the pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of Galaxy Backbone Plc company also stated that the backbone would comprise the 30 Terabytes National Datacenter which is the first of its kind in Nigeria and the Abuja Metropolitan Network. It would provide a single platform for connectivity and internet in all Government Ministries, departments and agencies. Mr. Ilukwe further stated that though Galaxy Backbone may have its origins in Government but is expected to operate as commercial and profit oriented company, providing services to customers in both the public and private sectors. However, a very close examination of these stated objectives of the Galaxy Backbone Plc initiative shows that they seem to duplicate the functions and objectives of other similar federal government ICT initiatives such as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). For example, some of the stated objectives of NITDA (see for example, NITDA website: http://www.nitda.gov.ng/about .htm) include:

1. To provide National ICT leadership and facilitate growth and development of local ICT economy
2. Facilitate and undertake ICT research and development (R&D) in software, hardware, etc.
3. To develop and coordinates national ICT initiatives, e.g. Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI), Software Development Initiative etc.

Furthermore, least we forget, in May 2007 President Obasanjo launched Nigeria’s first internet exchange point (IXP) which was established in Lagos. The idea behind an internet exchange is that since the Internet is a network of interconnected computer networks it requires a point of interconnection to ease flow of multiple traffics. Therefore, IXPs are the points at which multiple networks interconnect. In the absence of any domestic IXP in Nigeria, an internet service provider (ISP) must send all outbound traffic through its international links, most commonly satellite.

Therefore, the aim of building a Nigerian IXP is to keep and interchange local internet traffic such as e-mail, download of local website content, etc, within Nigeria and allow only international traffic to be exchanged at points outside Nigeria. Therefore, the existence and operation of Nigeria’s IXP now means that local internet traffic stays within Nigeria, with only international traffic exchanged at points beyond the country’s borders. The Nigerian internet exchange point (NIC) has a website at the following location: http://www.nixp.net/.

The initial push for the setting-up of the exchange point for Nigeria came because of the conclusion of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in 2005. The Summit observed that there was absence of an internet exchange point in Nigeria. It therefore pleaded Nigeria to consider establishing one urgently as it is very vital for getting Nigeria into the Information Superhighway – the internet. Accordingly, President Olusegun Obasanjo became committed to encouraging the establishment of an IXP for Nigeria.

A directive to the Minister of Communications by President Obasanjo to ensure the establishment of a Nigerian IXP within the shortest possible time followed this. Therefore, the Nigerian internet exchange point came into being because of the collaboration between the Ministry of Communications, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The exchange point is managed on a not-for-profit basis by an eleven-member board. The 11-member Interim Board of the IXP comprises of Chima Onyekwere as Chairman and Mohammed Rudman as Chief Executive Officer. Other members are Zubaida Rasheed, Sunday Afolayan, Sam Adeleke, Aminu Tijani, Chioke Ogugua, Akinwale Goodluck, K. R. Adeboye, Yen Choi and S. A. Ehikioya. The Board has its office located at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) headquarter building in Abuja. 

The importance of tracing these developments up to this point is to underscore the need for Nigeria to develop a cohesive national ICT policy and implementation strategies. The analysis above shows that in the past eight years, Nigeria’s ICT policy initiatives and implementation strategies were inconsistent, lacked clear focus and direction and more often than not, in conflict with one another. For example, while the country has made some tangible progress in the area of deployment of GSM technology and services nationwide, it is still ages behind in terms of leveraging this with broadband nationwide internet access. There are of course channels for improvement that President Yar Adua can tap. 

The starting point for the new administration should include a review of all existing public initiated ICT programs and projects in the country. For example, President Yar Adua should consider freezing the activities of the controversial Galaxy Backbone Plc. This should include recovering all the PTDF monies that were inappropriately expended on the company. For example, the 250 million naira legal services fees paid for the incorporation of the company are overwhelming. The money should be recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and returned to the PTDF.  

The appropriate place for the existence of Galaxy Backbone Plc is the private sector. Therefore, President Yar Adua should consider taking the necessary and appropriate steps to transfer the company to any of the two companies that now own Nigeria’s national telecommunication carrier status. These are Transcorp Plc (Nitel and M-Tel) and Globacom Limited. These only two companies have the national coverage of fibre optic and satellite telecommunications infrastructure to build a national internet backbone for Nigeria. Retaining Galaxy Backbone Plc in the public domain amounts to re-creating Nitel and M-Tel afresh after Obasanjo had auctioned the two companies to his preferred business associates. Moreover, Transcorp Plc and Globacom Limited are the only two companies with the approapriate Licences from the NCC to provide such national coverage now. This model is the international best practice model although, in China and some other political climes, government is directly involved in funding the development of national internet backbone infrastructure as pointed in this analysis above. 

The federal government and all other tiers of government and the public will thus become customers to the services that will be provided by the private companies. The NCC and other regulatory bodies will provide the necessary regulatory and oversight functions in this regard. Another alternative before the government is to recover Nitel and M-Tel from the new owners and transfer the activities of Galaxy Backbone Plc to one of these two previous federal government owned flagship telecommunication companies.

There are no doubts that the Obasanjo administration scored very high marks in the telecommunication sector during the eight years of his presidency. As earlier stated above, its list of successes includes the registration of GSM networks the attraction of big-ticket foreign investment into Nigeria, resulting in the set up of Microsoft and the subsequent the much-celebrated Federal Government/ Microsoft agreement, among others. The current administration of President Yar Adua has many opportunities to get Nigeria hooked into the mainstream global internet Superhighway by actively providing the appropriate enabling environment for the involvement of corporate Nigeria in the advancement of ICT development in Nigeria. A review of the existing ICT policy and implementation strategies is urgently needed to achieve this national aspiration. 

Abubakar Atiku Nuhu-Koko

Executive Director, The Shehu Shagari World Institute for Leadership and Good Governance (SSWI), Sokoto, Nigeria