Most developing nations have embarked on various reforms that foster the use of ICTs
in their economies. These reforms tend to yield little or minimal benefits to economic
growth and development, especially when compared with the developed countries of the
world. Technological advancement is known to impact fast rate of economic
development. In Nigeria, policy on adoption of Information and Communication
Technologies was initiated in 1999, when the civilian regime came into power of
government. The operations of the licensed telecommunication service providers in the
country has created some well-felt macroeconomic effects in terms of job creation,
faster delivery services, reduced transport costs, greater security and higher national
output.
This study intends to investigate the emerging roles of ICTs on Nigerian economy, and
to evaluate the factors that influence the decisions of investors in the Nigerian
telecommunications sector.
Ordinary Least Square Method of Regression for the period 1999 – 2004, shall be
employed. This period is considered appropriate in that, it was the time that policy on
ICTs was adopted. The paucity of data prior to this time also poses restriction on
meaningful econometric analysis.
Significant and positive relationship between ICTs and economic growth is expected as
it is portrayed in some economic literature.
While telecommunication service providers receive commensurate profit on their
investment efforts, the regulation from the government should ensure competitiveness.
This strategy will increase the quality of the services offered, and possibly at cheaper
price.