The President, Nigeria Internet Registration Association, NIRA, Muhammed Rudman has appealed to government to make Internet more affordable to all Nigerians.
Rudman made the appeal at the 2022 NIRA’s award held in Lagos Southwest Nigeria, where Voice of Nigeria was one of the nominees for the best Electronic Media Website Radio.
He said internet penetration in Nigeria has helped to boost the economy hence the need to make it open to more Nigerians through consistent training and retraining.
Rudman said; ‘‘The internet usage in the country is fantastic. Nigeria is number one in Africa with over 100 million people that are online. It has achieved a lot in almost all the key sectors. We need to educate the people more and find the way to drop the cost of internet so that it becomes more affordable considering that a lot of Nigerians are living below the poverty line.”
A Nigerian lecturer, Professor Tayo Osibanjo of the Covenant University recounted how the use of the internet has made learning easy for the students and schools.
Professor Osibanjo said that more attention should be given to public schools in the country and making the internet free for all students.
According to him, modern day communication is internet-based and any institution denied such technology denies its students the needed knowledge and no country has recorded meaningful development without education.
Professor Osibanjo said; ‘‘During the lockdown, Covenant University was in session. We actually deplored the internet for all our activities. What we enjoy in Covenant University is not found in the public Universities. As we speak, Students have to spend more money to buy data which is more or less free in some private schools. Nigeria needs to do more in the area of education. Education is key to any type of development we may be talking about. If someone could afford to buy a form for 100 million naira to contest for an election he is not even sure of what may be the outcome, that alone speaks volume.’‘
Some of the award recipients at the 2022 Nigeria Internet Registration Association, include Agim Ikwen of the Webguru hosting services, the pioneer executive Board member NIRA, Hammed Shehu, Ayiabari Kigbara of the Nigerian Communications Commission and Nigeria Mining Cadastre office headed by Obadiah Nkom amongst others.
The recipients lauded the efforts of NIRA in making the Internet accessible in Nigeria and promised to consistently utilise the dot ng domain extension in businesses.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
