Encouraging Nigerians to Learn French Parlon Francais Alliance Francais, Lagos, NIGERIA' 15 July 200

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French Africas DIGITAL DIVIDE
Gbenga SesanNigerias Information Technology
Youth Ambassadorwww.gbengasesan.com
me_at_gbengasesan.com
Encouraging Nigerians to Learn FrenchParlon
FrancaisAlliance Francais, Lagos, NIGERIA. 15
July 2003.
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OVERVIEW

• Defining the Digital Divide
• Africa and the Digital Divide
• Africas Multilingual Status
• Conclusion

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WHAT IS the Digital Divide?

• The Digital Divide is the GAP that exists between
  the technologically advanced and the
  technologically backward
• The Digital Divide exists between the global
  North and South, and within continents and
  nations
• The Digital Divide is a virus that brings many
  setbacks with it economic, social, political
  and psychological backwardness
• Indices of the Digital Divide include PC
  penetration, Internet usage, bandwidth
  consumption, content creation and online
  representation
• The Digital Divide can be bridged, and can be
  transformed into Digital Opportunities

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AFRICA and the Digital Divide

• Africa is presently at the most unfair end of the
  Digital Divide equation
• Annually, Africa loses unquantifiable wealth to
  the Digital Divide high cost of communication
  and Internet services, reliance on Europe and
  Northern America with security risks
• Africas language differences contribute to the
  widening divide
• Africa must get onboard Right now! Africa
  will be either on to the Information Age or off
  to the dark Agricultural Age Africa is
  suffering from knowledge apartheid that forces
  its children to eat the crumbs from the dinner
  table of the information-affluent nations. -
  Philip Emeagwali, A Father of the Internet
  (www.emeagwali.com)

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AFRICA'S Multilingual Status

• Africa is blessed with multiple languages dotting
  the entire landscape of the continent, with most
  nations still speaking the language of the
  nations that occupied their governance seats
  before independence
• French and English are about the most popular
  languages in Africa hence the Anglophone and
  Francophone segments
• This language barrier poses a large threat even
  in the face of bridging Africas digital divide
• Nigerians account for about 20 of Africas
  population, and that says a lot about a possible
  stride on Africas path if Nigerians are
  bilingual. We will have a smoother transition to
  the better side of the divide

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CONCLUSION

• Africas Digital Divide will be bridged, and will
  eventually become an undeniable Digital
  Opportunity - having redirected the attention of
  the world at Africa as the emerging continent
• Language and local content are major indices in
  relation to any regions efforts towards bridging
  the digital divide
• African initiatives that seek to bridge the
  digital divide can cut down on duplicity and
  reinventing the wheel if the language divide is
  bridged
• Multistakeholder support (government, civil
  society, academia and private sector) should be
  given to the initiatives that seek to bridge
  Africas language divide which can in turn
  build a bridge across the digital divide