INFLUENCE OF ICT ON NIGERIAN CULTURES AND SOCIETY

The Internet, Global System of Mobile Telecommunication (GSM), and Satellite Communication (Cable TV) are perhaps the most influential of all Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in modern digital society. This writer is, therefore, interested in what influence these three technologies have on the Nigerian society and cultures.

The hypothetical proposition of this study is that the impact of ICT on the Nigerian people and their diverse cultures has both a positive and a negative thrust. While these technologies have the potential of eroding local cultures even to the point of threatening their extinction, yet they equally provide a podium for world cultures and societies (Nigerian culture and people inclusive) to meet and interact. The resultant globalization of world cultures, of course, is not without inherent problems of hierarchy, domination by the stronger kingdoms and subservience of the weaker kingdoms, etc. When Marshall McLuhan prophesied that the world was quickly turning into a global village, he did not suggest or insinuate the emergence of a village without village heads, elders, chiefs, titled men and influential few. So the emerging global village (thanks to ICT) is not a village constituted of equals. The information  and communication powerful nations have accordingly taken the positions of village heads, elders, chiefs, titled men and influential few as the case may be. So, although the effect of ICT on the people’s lifestyles is presumably positive in the main, yet, there are critical negative pressures exerted by the  same technologies on the Nigerian society and cultures.

This chapter proposes to be an empirical study of the above topic. The research design would be a survey so that issues will be observed directly from human specimens in order to draw conclusions based on real life experiences rather than on assumptions or theoretical ideas. The University of Port Harcourt would be the population of study. The choice of Uniport is premised on the assumption that the institution like many other Federal Universities in Nigeria is a cosmopolitan environment providing a melting point of nearly all Nigerian cultures and people. The result of the research consequently can thus be applied to the Nigerian society as a whole. Besides, the university’s proximity to this writer will help to control or restrain to a minimal the constraints that would have been posed on the study by economic factors, issues of limited time or inconvenience. Purposive sampling technique would be used to select a representative sample size of people who have consistent access to the internet, cable televisions and the more popular GSM technology. A questionnaire will be administered to this sample size and if need be, oral interview would also be employed to elicit the necessary information. Given the above parameters, the resultant analysis and conclusions would be valid by any scholarly research standard.

References would include the under-listed and many others:

1. Agba P.C. (2001), Electronic Reporting: Nsukka, University of Nigeria Press Limited
   1. Biagi Shirley (2005), Media Impact: Canada, Thomsom Wadsworth.

Oduko Segun (1992), Guide to Students Research: Lagos VDG Press Limited