The Impact Of GSM On Nigerians

by Olusola Oyewola
2006-12-03 11:00:44 | Viewed 8704 times

Some few days prior to the commencement of my examination, I was very broke and needed some money urgently, the fact that it was a weekend was not helping the matter. Then, I remembered I had some few airtime credit left on my phone, I quickly called a friend who later sent me recharge credit number of MTN (Nigeria's leading cellular network) via SMS, which I later exchanged with someone else for some cash. I could then attend to my immediate expenses and concentrate on my examination, thanks to GSM! This is one the many blessings the mobile telecommunication network has brought to Nigeria ever since its introduction in the country some few years back. Little wonder Mr. President is quickly to point out at this sector as one of his major achievements. The technology has really contributed immensely to the well being of a good percentage of the populace and its impact is felt in all the sectors of the economy. Therefore, it is necessary to review some of the successes of GSM and how it has affected Nigerians.

To start with, job creation is probably the best opportunity “geesm” (as it is popularly known) has ever brought to the country, either unskilled or trained. Many have become their own boss simply by making calls available at a retail price and lower charges to callers, some sell recharge cards to GSM users who wish to reload their account and others sell phones and their accessories to subscribers, all these are easy to set-up with little capital. Some GSM operators even go to the trouble of making provision for installmental payment available to this category of people with chairs, umbrella and even phone sets at a reasonable price, as incentives. Call it marketing strategy, but the fact is that somebody somewhere is able to engage in something which brings return no matter how little it is and thereby add value to his or her precious life, half bread they say is better than none.

If you were a visitor in Lagos, you would have probably noticed the brightly coloured kiosks (be it yellow, red , 'glowing' green or combination of these) or may be the big umbrellas and chairs similarly coloured and scattered all over the place with their occupants holding some electronic gadgets in their hands. Those are call centres as they are popularly called and those shades are their various offices where they attend to their customers just like your banker does when you go to cash some amount of money. This activity is seen all over the cities, towns and even villages connected to the networks in Nigeria. The fact that it does not required any formal training has seen many attracted to the fast growing business and troubled areas of the country have their idle youths engage in constructive issues.

In addition, new area of specialization has been added to the existing field of studies. Technicians are trained to fix problems related to mobile phone malfunctioning, many hopeless graduates took advantage of this and became self-reliant. Trained personnel are being recruited every now and then by these operators and one interesting aspect is the encouragement of career capability. They all have career section integrated on their websites for qualified fresh graduate who wish to develop their skill in that direction. There is no gain saying to the fact that mobile telecommunication has contributed immensely to the empowerment of human resources in Nigeria.

The technology has found its way into the society and it has been able to permeate through cultures and traditions even as complex as the country's nature and ethnics are. It has added values to people's relationship and contributed to social integration. Barrier created during social interaction has been overcome through telecommunication. Take this as an instance, you have been trying to make your intention known to your female colleague at work but found it very difficult to accomplish, the fastest and cheapest route of achieving this is through GSM, either by calling her or sending SMS. So, you save yourself a lot of trouble. Not only that, business transaction has never been made so easy and cheap! The risk of embarking on a long journey with other associated dangers has been eliminated. Businessmen and women can cut deals for themselves through the use of GSM, and while you are away from home you are still connected with your family and your favourite events and interests.

Co-operate bodies have integrated the technology to improve their services. In the banking sector for example, one can confirm payment made into one's account via the SMS while one is several metres away from the baking hall, what a blessing to business people who found the stress of waiting in the bank too much to bear. This technology has been integrated by many banks in the country and would not have been possible but for the mobile phone network. Other areas include checking of results by students via SMS, this is an advantage because very few has access to the internet and in most time you need to go several miles before you can actually find one.

Another captivating instance is the involvement in voluntary services in order to improve the lives of the people especially those of the less privileged. Some sponsor educative and informative programmes about deadly diseases such as AIDS, others provide basic facilities for orphanages and work alongside with existing NGOs to achieve these. They encourage talents in the area of sports by sponsoring local leagues and other similar competitions.

Indeed, mobile telecommunication operation in Nigeria has been a blessing to this generation and just like they have value-added services, they have added values to Nigerians' living style!

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The author, Olusola Oyewola, is a subscriber of one of the cellular networks in Nigeria, and until very recently, a student of Federal University of Technology, Akure in Nigeria.

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