THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE COMMUNICATION SECTOR TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A more 100 years ago, people and news traveled by sailing ship, so that it took months to communicate across various part of the world. Advances in the first 60 years of the twentieth century speed up both -communication and travel in the past three decades, the pace of change in communication technology has accelerated. The world has witnessed a, communication revolution that has drastically changed the way business decisions are made and implemented.

Three decades ago, telephone links were laboriously and unreliably connected by operators, satellite were just being. discovered, photocopying and telecopying were completely unknown, mail was the only way to send hard copy, and getting it to overseas destination often took weeks, computer were in their infancy, and jet were just beginning to replace the much slower and less reliable propeller air craft.

Today/direct dialing is available to most parts of the world, at a fraction of what long distance cells cost 30 years ago facsimile, satellite links, fast jet travel, computer networks, cheap courier services, internet, E-mail, mobile cellular and a host of others have made communication reliable and often instantaneously available through' out 'the world. This revolution in the communication industry has been a major contribution to the development of what has become known as the global village which Nigeria is still struggling to be part of communication according to the Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary (Special Price Edition) is the act of passing messages across, making things known or expressing ones feeling through a means.

Effective communication, network is the bedrock of any nation. Effective communication network is helps in speeding up various economic activities such as trade, information network, security, banking and other business transaction which has in all aided competition, industrialization and improved technology which also increases the Gross National product (GNP) of nations

communication also aids distributive, channel, as it is a known fact that: production is not complete until goods and services produced reached the final consumer. For- this to be accomplished good and effective communication network is needed.

The Nigeria communication industry is divided into 3 sub-sectors mainly, Nigeria telecommunication Limited (NITEL), Nigeria postal service (NIPOST) Nigeria Mobile Telecommunication (M-tel) with a regulatory body known as Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC all of which are managed and controlled by Nigeria government.

The 1998 decree of October 25 on privatization and commercialization of government establishment gave room for the privatization and commercialization of government of which the Nigeria communication industry is none.