By Omoruyi Uyilaw Edoigiawerie, Esq
In the last decade, I have advised many start-up founders to build everything from AI-powered logistics platforms to blockchain-based payment systems.
Many of these ventures solve real problems backed by solid teams and good capital. But despite the innovation, one thing keeps showing up in our conversations, technology alone is never enough.
Recently, I advised a founder who had just closed a good round to scale an ed-tech product across public schools in a part of the country. The solution was smart, the investor deck was airtight, and the product showed promise in beta tests around Lagos.
But once they deployed in that State, the plan crumbled. The local school had no electricity, no stable internet, and no teachers who understood how to use the platform, even after training. Students had never handled a tablet before. Within a month, the project went dark.
That failure wasn’t about poor execution or lack of ambition. It was a collision between cutting-edge technology and a neglected system. And this is a pattern I have seen far too often.
We talk about digital inclusion as if it begins and ends with device penetration or internet access. But the real story is more complex and more uncomfortable. Nigeria’s digital future is being built on outdated educational frameworks, broken infrastructure, and millions of citizens with minimal understanding of technology and its nuances.
In this article, I intend to examine the structural fault lines threatening to undermine our digital ambition: the education curriculum that hasn’t caught up, the infrastructure that doesn’t exist, and the basic literacy gap no one is eager to confront.
*The illusion of progress
Nigeria is home to over 223 million people, of whom over 40 per cent are under the age of 14. In 2023, mobile internet penetration stood at 43.5 per cent, and only 38 per cent of Nigerians were connected to 3G or higher mobile networks.
While over 150 million Nigerians are reported to have mobile subscriptions, this statistic masks the troubling inequality in digital access. A 2022 World Bank report highlighted that over 50 per cent of rural Nigerians lack access to reliable mobile broadband services.
We like to believe that the digital revolution is inclusive. But in reality, it is expanding the gulf between the connected elite and the digitally excluded majority. This is not a matter of device availability; it is a matter of deliberate structural design.
*The education curriculum: Outdated maps for a new world
A child in Ogun State and another in Kebbi State are likely studying the same outdated curriculum that has barely evolved in three decades. The Nigerian education system continues to prepare students for an industrial economy, not a digital one.
Digital literacy is barely present in the Universal Basic Education (UBE) curriculum. Even at the secondary level, “Computer Studies” is often theoretical, with students reciting CPU definitions without touching a functioning computer.
The UNESCO 2021 Education Monitoring Report notes that less than 25% of public secondary schools in Nigeria have a functioning computer laboratory. Worse still, only 20% of teachers surveyed in these schools reported confidence in delivering digital lessons. This is not merely a resourcing issue; it is a policy failure.
Education reform is critical to building a digitally capable population. And that reform must start with asking hard questions: What does the 21st-century Nigerian child need to know? What future are we preparing them for?
A functional digital inclusion strategy must go beyond the headlines about tablets in schools. It must start with deliberately redesigning learning content to reflect contemporary digital realities, coding, data literacy, algorithmic thinking, cybersecurity, and responsible AI use integrated from primary through tertiary levels.
*Infrastructure: A dream on fragile foundations
In April 2024, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reported that only 61% of the country was covered by 4G LTE, with wide disparities between urban and rural regions. In states like Bayelsa, Taraba, and Zamfara, internet coverage lags significantly behind the national average. I have said on different occasions that building a digitally inclusive society on such uneven terrain is impossible.
The National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 set an ambitious goal of 90% population coverage by 2025, with a minimum speed of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural areas. However, implementation has been slow. Persistent challenges, right-of-way disputes, multiple taxation regimes, and telecom asset vandalism continue to stall private sector investment in critical digital infrastructure.
As of 2023, Nigeria had deployed only about 54,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, far below the estimated 120,000 km required for nationwide coverage. Without last-mile connectivity, the digital economy will remain an elite economy confined to Lagos, Abuja, and a few other commercial hubs. Add to this our electricity supply challenge with national grid reliability averaging 4,000 MW for over 200 million people, and it becomes clear that the problem is systemic. You cannot power a digital revolution on diesel generators.
In the digital realm, we risk replicating the same pattern of inequality that plagued our physical economy: a centre that thrives and a periphery that stagnates.
*Basic literacy and the second divide
Even if devices were free and the internet omnipresent, digital inclusion would remain elusive for millions. Why? Because basic literacy is still not universal.
As of 2022, over 31 per cent of Nigerians above age 15 were considered illiterate, according to UNESCO. The figures are worse for women in rural northern Nigeria, where female adult literacy is below 20 per cent in some states.
Digital literacy sits atop basic literacy. A person who cannot read or write cannot navigate a smartphone, fill out an online form, or use a digital wallet. This is the second divide, often overlooked in technology circles.
Inclusion is not just about the ability to use a device. It is about evaluating information critically, protecting data, participating in digital governance, and using online platforms to access rights and opportunities. These require a minimum reading comprehension level, numeracy, and critical reasoning.
Unfortunately, urban professionals often design digital skilling programmes in English, with little regard for local languages or cultural contexts. We risk designing a digital future that is inaccessible to the majority.
*Policy without praxis
Nigeria has launched several laudable digital policies over the past decade: the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), the National Broadband Plan, the Nigeria Start-up Act, and, most recently, the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy. These are commendable. But policy is not praxis.
Implementation remains the Achilles heel. Funding is fragmented, inter-agency collaboration is weak, and monitoring frameworks are either non-existent or ineffective. Too often, we announce big dreams without laying the groundwork.
If digital inclusion is to be meaningful, it must be measurable. We must move beyond vanity metrics, such as the number of SIM cards issued, social media followers, and mobile banking apps, to metrics that reflect real empowerment: the number of rural students with internet-enabled learning devices, the percentage of curriculum delivered via digital platforms, teacher-to-laptop ratios, access to content in local languages, etc.
*Building an inclusive digital future
To bridge these fault lines, we must make several hard but necessary investments:
Revise the national curriculum: Incorporate digital skills from primary education upwards. Partner with ed-tech companies and academic institutions to co-develop learning content that aligns with global best practices.
Train the teachers: Launch a national digital teaching fellowship that incentivises and upskill teachers in public schools, especially in underserved regions.
Invest in infrastructure: Declare telecom infrastructure as critical national assets. Harmonise taxation regimes. Subsidise rural broadband expansion through targeted public-private partnerships.
Localise content and tools: Translate digital literacy training materials into major local languages. Develop user interfaces that consider cultural and educational limitations.
Expand foundational literacy: Re-energise adult literacy programmes focusing on digital empowerment. Partner with community-based organisations, mosques, churches, and local leaders to make literacy a social movement.
Data-driven accountability: Publish annual digital inclusion reports at both national and sub-national levels, highlighting not just connectivity but access and usage among vulnerable populations.
*Conclusion: The danger of digital elitism
We must beware of mistaking technological sophistication for meaningful progress. The proliferation of smartphones, sleek apps, and kilometres of fibre optics might make for good metrics, but they do not guarantee inclusion.
A truly digital society is not one where a few urban elites thrive in digital silos, but one where an old woman in Iseyin, Oyo State can consult a doctor over a mobile phone, the girl in Gombe can learn Python with nothing more than a browser, and the farmer in Otukpo can trade produce online without fear of fraud or exclusion.
Digital elitism is subtle. It wears the face of innovation but alienates the people technology was meant to serve. When we fail to invest in power, curriculum reform, local language literacy, and last-mile infrastructure, we are not bridging the digital divide; we are deepening it.
Until these foundations are rebuilt, our digital dreams will remain just that—dreams. Technology was never meant to be the finish line; it is only a tool. A truly inclusive digital future begins with the hard, slow work of fixing what lies beneath.
*Omoruyi Uyilaw Edoigiawerie is a leading start-up lawyer and policy advisor at the intersection of law, technology, and equity in emerging markets. He is the Founder and Chief Servant at EandC Legal, a full-service law firm offering bespoke legal services focusing on start-ups, established businesses, and upscale private clients in Nigeria. The content of this article provides a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. To get in touch, please email: [email protected]
