Journal of Technology Management &
Innovation
E-ISSN: 0718-2724
ljimenez@jotmi.org
Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Chile
Awoleye, O. Michael; Siyanbola, W. Owolabi; Oladipo, O. Francisca
Adoption assessment of internet usage amongst undergraduates in Nigeria universities -a case study
approach
Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, vol. 3, núm. 1, 2008, pp. 84-89
Universidad Alberto Hurtado
Santiago, Chile
Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=84730109
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J. Technol. Manag. Innov. 2008, Volume 3, Issue 1
Received January 1, 2008 / Accepted March 3, 2008.
ADOPTION ASSESSMENT OF INTERNET USAGE AMONGST
UNDERGRADUATES IN NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES -A CASE STUDY
APPROACH
O. Michael Awoleye 1 , W. Owolabi Siyanbola1 and O. Francisca Oladipo2
1
National Centre for Technology Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Federal Ministry of
Science & Technology, P.M.B. 012, OAU, (20005) Ile-Ife, Nigeria
2
Computer Science Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, P.M.B. 5025, Awka, Nigeria
Abstract
This study focused on the level of penetration of Internet usage among undergraduate students in Nigeria using Obafemi
Awolowo University as a case study. Result showed that about 92% of undergraduate students have embraced the Internet
and are using it consistently. The online mean time is 3.5hrs/week while on the average, undergraduate experience of
Internet usage is about 4years. We found also that the students use the Internet mostly for e-mail, information search and
online chatting; all of these were found to have significant impact on their academics and social life. Further analysis
revealed that gender attitude is also an important issue; male students appear to use the Internet more than their female
counterparts; just as science based students use it more than the non-science based students. The paper therefore
recommends appropriate policies for all higher schools of learning in Nigeria to facilitate further diffusion and use of the
Internet.
Keywords: Internet adoption; access point; gender; policy; attitude; internet experience.
1
Corresponding author: e-mail: awoleye@yahoo.co.uk, Phone: +234 8069431145
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1 Introduction 1.1 Research methods
The Internet has come with an evolution that cannot be Three basic research instruments were used to carry out the
compared with existing technologies that were before it. work on the chosen institution: observations, interviews and
Molosi (2001) remarked that the television revolution took questionnaire, the data were gathered in June, 2006.
13 years to reach 50 million viewers and the Internet Twenty-five set of structured questions were compiled in a
achieved this mark in only 4 years (Molosi, 2001). There is questionnaire, which was administered to 300 students in
no doubt that the rate of deployment of new technologies in 10 different faculties from 40 departments. 288 were duly
developing countries is low, especially those of sub- completed and returned, representing 96% response rate.
Saharan Africa. This is particularly noticeable in the area of The respondents were selected across different academic
telecommunication and computing infrastructure, such as disciplines (both science and non-science based), from
telephones, power supplies, development of appropriate different departments, and from both sexes, to ensure
electronic networks etc (Naidoo &. Schutte 1999). Today, coverage of all relevant demographic and academic
the growth in telecommunication infrastructure has led to indicators. The significance of these demographic variables
increase in Internet connectivity. More people get was later tested. Some analytical tools embedded in the
connected to the Internet through ISDN, VSAT and even computer software- Statistical Packages for Social Sciences
through their mobile phones. Governments in Africa in (SPSS) were used to quantitatively analyze the data, out of
their ICT reforms programmes have made efforts to which we drew different inferences made in this paper.
liberalize the market and privatize the sole carrier
(Oyeyinka-Oyelaran & Adeya 2002). A number of 2. Results and discussions
countries have adopted the Global Systems of Mobile
Some of the major indicators of Internet usage and its
Telecommunications (GSM), which has boosted the overall
impact as we found out in the work are enumerated, viz:
available telephone lines. For instance, in Nigeria,
percentages of students using the Internet, point of internet
Zimbabwe and Uganda government have licensed a number
access, time spent online, gender attitude to the Internet,
of GSM operators. The impact of this moves have been
science and non-science student usage and Internet services
quite dramatic in number of cases for example the Global
usage preferences amongst others.
System for Mobile communication (GSM) in Nigeria
before august 2001 there were just about 500,000 mobile
and fixed telephone lines in all. Today, the country has over 2.1 The penetration- percentages of students
36 million mobile lines and a little over one million fixed using the Internet and their access points?
lines for a population of over 140 million, tele-density as at
June 2007 stood at 28.42 (NCC, 2007). These On faculty basis, we found that less than 10% (46, n=272)
transformations have not come in exclusion of country’s of the total students from some of the faculties use the
educational sector. Adeya & Oyelaran-Oyeyinka (2002) Internet on a daily basis, and about 80% (36) of this number
also believed that education is antecedent to development. are from science related faculties. About 40% of the total
Core research findings have been traced to the universities respondents (n=272) use it on a weekly basis, 38.8% use it
and the application of these innovations has resulted in on a monthly basis and 4% rarely use it, they use it only
tremendous gains to country’s economy. A number of once in a year. But the overall usage and adoption is
universities in Nigeria are now making frantic efforts to calculated at 92% and compare this figure with Oyelaran-
improve on their ICT infrastructure; the Obafemi Awolowo Oyeyinka & Adeya (2002) who earlier reported 69%
University (OAU) became a leader among the universities adoption among Nigerian students. This shows an upward
in establishing Internet and computing infrastructure movement of 23% Internet usage and adoption among
through assistance from foreign agencies. OAU began with Nigerian university students within 4years, from 2002 to
the establishment of a campus wide-area wireless network 2006. We also found that the students have more access to
funded by the World Bank through the International Centre the Internet in the Cybercafés (90.8%), followed by
for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) based in Trieste Italy. The departments (5.9%), offices (2.2%), homes (0.7%) and
network is tagged OAUNet (Adeya & Oyeyinka-Oyelaran, Library (0.4%). Due consideration of our data revealed the
2002). Now, the academic subnet of OAUNet currently need to put suitable policies in place to improve access
connects 2 colleges and thirteen faculties equipped with a points in the departments, offices, hostels (homes) and
20km of 2 Gigabit fibre and connects to the Internet on a library was established.
bandwidth of 6Mbps/1.5Mbps bandwidth (INTECU, 2006).
In addition to this, OAU also have in her premise eight 2.2 Internet experience and services usage
cyber cafes namely; Eldorado, Infinite grace, Awo Internet
café, Rotunda, Conference centre, Firstnet, Cyber haven, The ranking of Internet usage experience among the
unifecs with VSAT installations of varied capacities. undergraduates were conducted in ten faculties out of the
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thirteen in the university. The result showed that students that some of the students have been using the Internet even
from faculty of technology were ranked highest with the before they gained admission into the university (Table 1).
Mean Internet Usage eXperience Index (MUXI) of 3,07 We found that some of the students with up to 4 years
followed by faculty of Agriculture 3,04 ranked second Internet experience are now in 300-500 level of their
meaning that they have about 4,5yrs experience using the academic programme. The implication is that in the next
Internet, and faculty of Administration 2,54 ranked least two sessions/years we will begin to have Internet literate
(10th) with about 3yrs experience. Total average MUXI for graduates who will then participate in the labour market.
the students is 2,77 which translates to about 4yrs, meaning
Table 1. Ranking of Internet usage experience among undergraduates by faculty,
(Min) 1=0-1yr, 2=2-3yrs, 3=4-5yrs, 4=6-7yrs, (Max)5= over7yrs.
Internet Usage Experience
Faculty Mean Internet Percentages of Mean XP
Usage XP Index respondents (%) Ranking
(MUXI)
Technology 3,07 9,3 1
Agriculture 3,04 9,3 2
Health Sciences 2,94 11,8 3
Science 2,83 10,7 4
Law 2,76 10,0 5
Pharmacy 2,73 5,2 6
Education 2,67 10,4 7
Arts 2,58 10,0 8
Social Sciences 2,57 12,8 9
Administration 2,54 9,7 10
Average of MUXI 2,77
It was reported by Hills and Argyle (2003) in Luan et al
2.3 Time spent online (2005) that students in oxfordshire, England spent an
Our further analysis showed that time spent on the Internet average of 7.9hrs/week. This is likely due to the privilege
is an important issue; we found that students spent an of having access to the Internet at home and hostels.
average of 3.5hrs/week online. SPSS generated mean=1.43
and the standard deviation 0.7 using the following 2.4 Gender and Level of adoption of Internet
categories: 1=1-3hrs/week, 2=4-6/week, and 3= usage.
>6hrs/week. This is a considerable improvement when we
compare this to an earlier report of Jagboro (2006) whose Pearson correlation 2-tailed test was performed on gender
observation showed that the time spent online for a student and Internet usage of the students; we found that there was
in the university was 1hr/week in the same university. a fairly strong correlation between the two variables with a
Although this is still far behind the time spent when value of 0.326, at a level of significance of 0.01. This
compared to students in developed countries like England.
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shows that gender have significant effect on Internet usage. a daily basis. At all levels (100-400) male students use the
Further analysis confirmed that male student use the Internet regularly and more often than their female
Internet more than their female counterparts, much more on counterparts (Table 2).
Table 2. Evaluation of gender adoption of Internet usage across levels.
Variables/Level Years - 100 200 300 400
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
*How long have you ≤3yrs 52,63 43,14 34,15 41,07 20,00 32,61 21,43 16,67
been using the Internet
(yr) >3yrs 47,36 56,86 65,85 58,93 80,00 67,39 78,57 83,33
2
*How often do you use -Often 77.78 38,00 62,50 38,18 72,73 64,44 71,43 70,00
the Internet
Rarely 3 22,22 62,00 37,50 61,82 27,27 35,56 28,57 30,00
*Online time ≤3hrs 35,29 81,25 53,66 87,27 53,49 83,72 69,23 50,00
spent/week (hr)
>3hrs 64,71 18,75 46,34 12,73 46,51 16,28 30,77 50,00
2
Often(daily and weekly)
3
rarely (monthly and yearly)
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2.5 Science and Non-Science based students
The ten faculties under test were divided into two faculty of health science was ranked highest (1) which is an
categories: science and non-science (Table 3). We also have indication of where the most frequent users emerge. Faculty
a second level of categorization of frequent and non- of Agriculture was ranked second (2) and faculty of
frequent users; the frequent users are those that use the education was ranked least (8). We carried out further
Internet both on a daily and weekly basis and the non- analysis to ascertain what students in the highest rank and
frequent users as those that use it on a monthly and yearly the lowest rank faculties actually use the Internet for;
basis. Over 60% of those that rarely use the Internet are interestingly we found that there is no significant
from non-science based faculty. This is a reflection that difference. They both (highest and lowest ranking faculties)
most of the non-science based students do not fancy the use use it mostly for e-mail and information search and the
of the Internet and do not count it as important. This may be usage are almost at the same level 72% and 70%
the reason why science based students are more proactive respectively. Ukwe (2000) and Jenson (2000) in Idowu et al
than their non-science based counterparts. It is important (2004) stated that many people simply use the Internet for
now to encourage them so as not to be left behind. e-mail, especially at the forefront of early Internet
Furthermore in Table 3, faculty ranking revealed that developments in Africa universities.
Table 3. Science and non-science based categorization by faculty & ranking of Internet usage.
Faculty Participation Frequent Non-frequent Frequent Ranking
(N) Users (FU) Users (NFU) Users (%)
Science Health Sciences 32 23 9 72 1
Agriculture 26 17 9 65 2
Technology 26 16 10 62 3
Science 29 18 11 62 3
Pharmacy 14 8 6 57 4
127 82 (64,5%) 45 (35,5%)
Non- Arts 29 18 11 62 3
Science Administration 25 14 11 56 5
Social Sciences 36 19 17 53 6
Law 29 14 15 48 7
Education 30 11 19 37 8
149 76 (51%) 73 (49%)
2.6 Internet Service Usage Preference 2.7 Constraints to the use of the Internet
Most students (over 70%) at all levels use the Internet for e- Constraint focus open-ended question allowed us to gather
mail followed by information search about 65% some of the major constrictions and challenges facing the
respondents and about 20% use it for chat and finally about students in using the Internet. These are: financial
1% use the Internet for other things which are not constraint, erratic power supply, inefficient Internet links
specified. and servers, not having enough time, no personal access to
the Internet, not being computer literate, cyber congestion,
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lack of reliable storage facilities, long distance and pop-up checking of results and information about their academic
of pornographic sites (spyware). programmes, assessments, reporting, monitoring and
evaluation is also desirable.
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