The Place Of Technology Since Independence in Nigeria

Today Marks The 54th Independence Annivasary in Nigeria, we have to
state clearly the effect of Technology in the economy.
According to Anyakoha( 1991) Information Technology ( IT) is " The use
of man made tools for the collection, generation, communication,
recording, re-management and exploitation of information. This
includes those applications & commodities, by which information is
transfered, recorded, edited, stored, manipulated or disseminated."
At the heart of Technology lies two main branches of Technology thus:
Computing And Telecommunication.
Lets See below


• Computers
Computers were originally used by scientists for calculating numbers,
and have gradually become useful in offices and industries. In recent
times, simplified models that can be used by almost everybody have
become common in schools and homes for accomplishing many varied tasks
and applications (Madu 2000)
Fapohunda (1999) lists the uses that computers are now commonly put
to: writing letters, & reports, printing books, newspapers, and
magazines, drawing pictures and diagrams, doing statistics,
mathematics and handling financial records, controlling traffic
lights, flying aeroplanes, making and playing music and video, sending
messages anywhere in the world.

• Internet
The Internet is a global collection of many types of computers &
computer networks that are linked together. It is increasingly
becoming the solution to many information, problems, information
exchange, and marketing (Adesanya, 2002). Eseyin (1997) describes the
Internet as a mixture of many services with the two most commonly used
being electronic mail (e-mail for short) and the World Wide Web (www).
It plays a significant role in education, health, political processes,
agriculture, economy, businesses and newsgroups. Woherem (2000) states
that with Internet connectivity, one can do business all over the
world without physical contact with the buyer or the need for a
business intermediary.

• E-mail
Electronic mail (e-mail) is the exchange of text messages and computer
files transmitted via communications networks such as the Internet
(Nwosu, 2004). Fapohunda (1999) sees the e-mail system as the
equivalent of postal mailing services, with the biggest difference
being the time & cost involved. And not only written data, but all
sorts of information in the form of video, audio, or photographs, can
be sent via e-mail. Oketunji (2000) describes e-mail as an increasing
popular method of communication, especially in the workplace.

• Mobile Phones
Bittner (1989) defines mobile phones as a telephone system that can
move or be moved easily and quickly from place to place. Mobile phones
were once the tool of rich and busy executives who could afford both
the luxury. Mobile phones are now the ICT that is reshaping and
revolutionizing the communications globally. Its impact on the
economic activities of nations, businesses, and small entrepreneurs is
phenomenal. According to Marcelle (2000), the availability of this new
technology has been reshaping the material basis of the society as
well as bringing about a profound restructuring of economic,
political, & cultural relations among states. Nigeria is not an
exception.
According to Tiemo (2006) the importance of information cannot be
overemphasized. People need information to plan and carry out their
decisions. More than 90 percent of Africa's population could greatly
benefit from information on better choice of food, safe water and
basic nutrition, child care, family planning, immunization, prevention
and control of endemic diseases. The combination of modern
communication devices could play significant roles in the collection &
dissemination of global information. Oji-Okoro (2006) supported this
view by stating that mobile telephony usage by individuals enables
them to communicate with loved ones, clients and business associates.
For large businesses, it is a means of providing a service that leads
to an increase in profits. For governments, revenues are gained
through taxes and duties. As a tool for sustainable livelihoods,
mobile telephones provide employment for many who could have been
idle.

• Fax machine
Telefacsimile systems permit the transaction of images (photos,
printed images, maps, drawings) and their reproduction on paper at a
remote receiver. Facsimile (fax) is not a new service; however,
advances in digital imaging technology and microelectronics have
caused a sharp drop in prices with a significant increase in
capacities (O'Brien, 1996). "Long distance copying" might be an
appropriate nickname for this telecommunication process. Any document,
whether it is handwritten, contains pictures, diagrams, graphs, charts
or typed text can be transmitted at a great speed for relatively low
cost. The fax system is widely available; most organizations have at
least one fax machine.
Finally, Methodology which deals with data collection cannot be
relingated to the scrape hills of history