Bumpy and inaccessible cyber highways, especially for disabled persons in Nigeria

 

In Nigeria, consumers of e-services are the affected by the chasm in regulatory provisions and weak legislative structures. As Governments and institutions embrace Information Technology to compete in the global market, citizens who consume e-services must be protected legally, ethically,and socially. This line of reasoning brings to bear the critical discourse concerning the readiness of our information highways as people embrace the cyber world.
In thefirstplace, I would like to take a high-levelreview of someissues with thephysicalworld, which weought to guard against in thecyberworld. Nigeria is a nation that is plagued with dauntingchallenges. Andsuccessiveadministrations can onlyattend to whatthe Federal Executive Council andthe Senate consider as priorities within thetenure of thegovernment. Physicalroadnetworks are grossly inadequate, existing ones are decrepit, and in somecommunities there are no accessible roads.

Existing road structures are dilapidated and full of bumps, even the inter-state highways. I must be quick to highlight that every administration always embark on numerous road construction projects, and the current Government is not an exception. The key challenge is always alack of standard. It has come to a point where we are unable to know what constitutes a good road. Provisions are not made for pedestrians most times. Different categories of road users are at the mercy of vehicular traffics.

In essence, no sense of who gets priority on each segment of the road, even them ajorroad slack clear traffic signs. The roads and thoroughfares are created without there cognition that the society has people living with diverse disabilities.In the area of building construction: most public buildings do not follow universal design principles. In essence, theyfollow the conventional pattern that works for people who are with no form of physical challenge ordisability. Car Parks are designed with nodesignatedparkinglotsfordisabledpersons. Publictoiletslackaccessiblepathforpersonson wheelchairs. Andmosttimes, thepath are smallbecauseitdid not followanycivilstandard.

Bearing in mindthatabout 12% of Nigerians live with one form of disability or the other. Thispopulation is more than countries like Senegal, Tunisia, Angola, Zambia, Niger, Mali, Zimbabwe,etc. To alienatethesepeople from relishingpubliclyavailableservices is both ethically andsociallywrong. Worse still, most of thequarters in State and Federal Secretariat complexes are inaccessible to peopleon wheelchair. In a broaderperspective, disabilityor impairment includesvisual impairments, hearing impairments, learning impairments, speech impairments, ambulant disabledpeopleetc. For a longtime, the Association of Disabled Persons in Nigeria has battled with successiveadministration to enshrineandapprove a bill that recognizes their presence in Nigeria.  As recent as 2014, the Deputy Director of the Center for Citizens with Disability, Mr. David Anyaele highlighted that thecorechallenge is thatthe Nigerian society has noregardandrecognitionforpeopleliving with disability. Thetruth is thatthesocietycontainspersons with diverse impairments,and there is no one solution that fitsall. Hence, the universaldesignprinciplesmust be embraced. It is amazing to recall thatthefirst Disability Bill in Nigeria wasapprovedthefirstquarter of 2014. Theimplication is that Nigeria is stillbattling with ensuringequalaccessandopportunity to allcitizens. We must understandwhatthisportendfortheenormouspopulation who embrace e-channel services in Nigeria. Governmentagenciesnowhavepolicies that mandatorily requirecitizens to go online to be able to consume their services. I look at theissues from two perspectives.

In thefirstplace, enforcing e-channel servicesforetellautomatic disenfranchisement forthosewho can neitherafforditnorhavetherequisiteworkingknowledge of the e-services in question. Those with noknowledge must subject themselves to mandatorybutpropertrainingandexposure. Mosttimes, this may involvelearning from friendsandrelations. Thosewhodo not havethewherewithal must ensurethatthey are not left behind in thisbandwagon of thenewera. They must makethenecessaryandrelevantinvestmentsothattheyacquiretheexperience and gadget that will enable them enjoy e-services.

Thesecondandthemostcriticalaspect has to do with usability andaccessibility of available e-channel services. Content providers are very conversant with issues like securityholes, virusandwormattacks etc., howevermost of theportalsor websites fallshort of Usability and Accessibility Standards. As highlighted earlier, in thephysicalworld,  structuresandroadsconstructedfortheuse of everyone are said to followuniversaldesignprinciples. Similarly, when a website is createdfor everyone, thenit is assumed to be usableandaccessible. This is theaspiration of thefoundingfather, Sir. Berners-Lee. According to him, ‘The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essentialaspect’. Sir Berners-Lee inventedtheweb with theultimateobjective of making contents universallyavailableandaccessible to everyone. In thisdirection, Dr. Peter Meyers, the President of Userreflect.comhintedwebsite usability is about thescience of making technology workforpeople.

Websites providethe gateway to thecyberworld. Assuch, they must be constructed with theobjective of reaching everyone. Manywebsiteshosting e-services in Nigeria containsimages that makeloadingverydifficultas well as bandwidth consuming. Most websites are crowded with many pop-up picturesand adverts. Flashand Add-ons make websites veryclumsy to comprehend, especiallythe homepage. Anotherissue is inconsistent Web Content Font Sizeswhich minimizecomprehension, especiallyforpeople with impairedsights. Most hyperlink leads to Error 404, meaningthatwebpage is missing. Worsestill, there is usuallynolink to takethe user back to themainmenu. Againimages are not taggedproperly in searchengines, makingitimpossiblefor visually impairedvisitors to havea richexperience. These are some of theyardsticksformeasuringtheaccessibility of ausable and accessible website.

Next is theclarity of informationexpressed on the homepage. Firsttimevisitors must be able to quicklyunderstandthe sitemap andlayout of information, especiallythosebothering on thecompany, theobjectiveorpurpose of thecompany, theservicesavailableandhow to contactthecompany.Theseinformation must be categorically stated in casethe user needsanyhelp. Andwhen a companyor Government website provideavenuesforvisitors to contactthecompany, it must be manned, at theleast 9/5. In theidealsituation, websites are open 24/7 and should be mannedlikewise. Most e-channel portals in Nigeria havecontactemails and telephone lines that are not manned, which ultimatelydefeatstheobjective. Most of them have email addresses that returnnon-deliveryerrormessage. I cannot begin to articulatethenastyissue of stillkeepingobsoleteinformation about companyaddressand theboard of directors on the website.

I am quite conversant with thehighcost of bandwidth in Nigeria. And I am alsoaware of theequationlinkingavailable bandwidth to thewebpageresponsetime. So, it is recommendedthatwebpages should be designedlight, devoid of unnecessary animations and bandwidth consumingimages. Thefasterthe user can locatespecificinformation, thebetter. Mainmenus must be decongested, leavingfewerbuttons that can streamlinesearchandprovidefasterroad to expected content. Whatever that can enhance user experience should be encouraged, after allthe cyber world is mostly about user experience. Contents must be madeavailable in a friendlypages with noambiguity whatsoever. Thenumber of clicks to get toa specific content must be reduced. Keywords must be tagged in the URLs, and HTML pages must be givenmeaningfultitles at coding stage. Tabkeys are necessaryforthosewho cannot usethemouse, sothe website must provide concise directionforeverykey on thekeyboardor keypad.

Nigeria’s current cyber world or the information highway is a nightmare, full of bumps and grossly inaccessible. Knowing that the Web is a no-man’s world, the least expectation is to provide primary regulation that will ensure that Content Providers follow minimum rules as they make information available in this new world. Regulation will protect disabled persons from alienation. Asiwe and Omiegbe, both of Delta State College of Education hinted that ‘Persons with special needs have innate abilities and when properly harnessed through proper education would be able to contribute ultimately to their development as well as that of the society they reside in terms of political, social, economic and technological development’.

I cannot agree less. About 12% of Nigeria who are designated as impaired must be given a chance in Nation building. Developed Nations of the world are actively keeping tab on current developments in the cyber world,so that they can update their standards and regulatory structures to avoid obsolescence. It defiles logic to host critical applications on the web, yet allow it to run like no man’s world. Dynamic regulatory structure is required to control the cyber world adequately. Websites must embrace universal design principles so that it is available to everyone. Everyone must be given a chance to participate in the cyber world. The disabled persons are also gifted and talented, and can positively contribute to the GDP of the nation. Their voice must be heard. Their impact must be felt. Having left them out in the physical world, they must become one of the objects of focus in the cyber world.