In a recent judgement, the United States Federal High Court ruled in a decision entrenching greater protections for web users and more rigorous regulation of broadband providers. In the landmark ruling, the 2-to-1 decision from a three-judge panel rescinded the ludicrous attempts of US’s major telcos to derail the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s open-internet — or “net-neutrality” — rules. In their comments, the judges emphasized the importance of the internet as an essential communications and information platform for consumers.
For many, this ruling reiterated the global discussions on internet governance and net neutrality and affirmed the role of broadband as an essential utility, available to all people. The decision capped the years of struggle between open-internet advocates and the telecoms industry, encompassing cable and telecom conglomerates. Without strong net-neutrality rules, broadband providers could exercise intolerable levels of gatekeeper control over what users can do, see and say online. With the new rules, broadband providers are prohibited from optimizing specific favourites on the internet or blocking particular website and applications. Instead, internet should be treated like a public utility, accessible and available to all, devoid of any bias.
This ruling is not only a victory for the United States and the indefatigable work of millions of advocates there; it’s a victory for the entire world. The arguments on net neutrality was essentially a battle between pundits clamouring for the internet as plaything of a few giant providers, useful only for profiteering, or an internet owned by everyone; the greatest engine for economic opportunity.
India, in a similar vein, also triumphed over internet partisanship. Touted as the most populous democracy in the world, the country voted for net neutrality, in response to Facebook’s Free Basics internet scheme, fronted by founder, Mark Zuckerberg. For the many who are not aware, Free Basics is a scheme proposed by Facebook to provide people with access to useful services on their mobile phones in markets where internet access may be less affordable. The websites on the Free Basics platform are available for free without data charges, and include content on things like news, employment, health, education and local information. As part of attempts to promote Free Basics, Zuckerberg had flown to India, where he received an ecstatically warm welcome from the Indian media, politicians, and even audience with the country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Over the course of 2015, several Facebook and Internet.org executives made several trips to India, meeting with the country’s lawmakers and government regulators, before the Indian Telecoms regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) quietly mooted the idea of Free Basics.
With more than one billion people, approximately 60% of them under age 25, Africa is home to the world’s largest pool of brainpower and talent, which makes it attractive to multinational tech companies waiting to take advantage of Africa’s talent and integrate the continent’s best and brightest into their workforces. At 100m Facebook users in Africa, Nigeria holds an enviable attraction to Facebook. According to a recent Facebook sponsored study, over 16 million Nigerians sign in to the social network every month. More technology developed countries in Africa, South Africa and Kenya trail behind at 13m and 5m users monthly. As its Africa user base grows, Facebook has become more serious about the revenue opportunity the continent represents, and is now aggressively working on its local presence in key markets. Visits by its Executives have quadrupled to Africa over the last two years, with the head honcho himself, Zuckerberg, who flew into Lagos with stealth last month.
Many observers see Zuckerberg’s visit to Nigeria, starting with the Co-Creation Hub as a validation of the energy and vibrancy of Nigeria’s tech industry, despite the country’s infrastructure challenges and the emergence of Nigeria as Africa’s technology headquarters. Earlier this year, he had spotlighted Jobberman’s co-founders for the impact they have made in the Nigerian tech space and a few months after, had invested $24m in a Nigerian-founded company, Andela. At a recent Nelson Mandela Lecture, American business magnate, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bill Gates joined the bandwagon and referenced Oluseun Onigbinde, founder of BudgIT as a model of youths utilizing technology to entrench fiscal governance and accountability. These commendations by global tech leaders affirm Nigeria as an emerging technology-driven country and places the country on a higher pedestal in the global tech space. It is believed that this will encourage more investors and venture capitalists to seek and participate in the emerging tech ecosystem. But more importantly, it validates the technology pundits who had insistently engaged government and policy makers on the need for diversification from oil, insisting that ICT offered the continent a brighter future.
Demographic shifts over the last sixteen years have increased ICT adoption in Nigeria, largely driven by the private sector. With over 5 submarine cables berthing in Nigeria providing over 11TBPS broadband capacity, internet users estimated to be circa 81m, global economists stress Nigeria as the next region of transformative economic growth and predict the country’s emergence as one of the world’s leading economies by 2030. Many see Nigeria as the future of tech talent, as estimated population of 750m by 2100 indicates it may lead the next digital revolution, due to its youth talent bulge. These groups see Zuckerberg’s visit as a precursor to this.
Expectedly, Nigerians are falling over themselves to welcome the world’s youngest billionaire. So far, he has gotten an easy ride from the tech community and the media, which have churned out puff pieces about Zuckerberg’s humility, his recognition of Nigeria’s tech industry and his love for Nigerian jollof rice, while he remained vague about his specific plans for Nigeria.
Facebook has an ambitious effort to bring all hundreds of millions of people around the world online, as gatekeeper and the most populous black nation holds a key to achieving this. But this will come at a cost, and Zuckerberg is a businessman seeking a monopoly, like every other business.In his book, “How Europe underdeveloped Africa”, Walter Rodman described how European monopoly firms operated by constantly fighting for control over raw materials, markets and means of communications, as well as first opportunities to invest in new profitable undertakings inside and outside their countries. With its talent bulge, Africa, and Nigeria specifically, will be the new playground for tech companies, and many will come to export the nation’s tech entrepreneurs and import back finished ideas. This may well be a new form of new colonialism, if the Nigerian government does not provide enabling environment for technology. While Zuckerberg is here to promote an inclusive internet, it is not an open one. Nigerians should remember that his Free Basics initiative has suffered defeat in a few other countries only because it inhibits unfettered access to the internet.
Under the right regulatory environment, foreign interest and investments will birth renewal, enable Nigeria live up to its potential and catapult more Nigerians out of poverty. However its troubled history with infrastructure deficiency, corruption, poverty and terrorism, Nigeria is well positioned to benefit from trends such as rising demand from emerging economies, growing global demand for resources, the spread of the digital economy, its young and talented population and an advantageous geographic location in West Africa, which enables trade within the continent, as well as with Europe and North and South America.
Andela co-founder, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji who recently started a new start-up, Flutterwave famously wrote “If the digital revolution began in dorm rooms and Silicon Valley, its future will be written in Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg”. We may have lost the narrative of Andela as a Nigerian company; but Nigeria can rewrite Africa’s tech story.
Temitope Osunrinde
