Poverty Alleviation through Information and Communications Technology: A Case Study of Nigeria
Okogun Oluwanishola Abiodun, Abang Igwe Sunday · 2013
The flexible nature of ICTs allows them to help address problems in health, education famine and livelihoods. They can enable people's empowerment and strengthen human rights. Due to this, the study evaluates information and communications technology (ICT) as a means of reducing poverty using Nigeria case. Human Development Index (HDI) and Gini Coefficient were used as standardized measures of poverty. This evaluates ICT as it relates to poverty alleviation. The study reveals Nigeria's Human Development Index (HDI) was only 0.416 and that about 70% of the population was living below the poverty line and ranked 156 out of 187 economies. While, the Gini Coefficient of Nigeria was 0.4470 in 2010 indicating that inequality keeps growing between the poor and the rich. In conclusion, appropriate policy suggestions were suggested for efficient use of ICT in reducing poverty and bridging the gap between the poor and the rich in Nigeria.