On May 12, 2024, a video of Ahmed Lawan, the Senator representing Yobe North senatorial district of Yobe State, and the former senate president went viral on X (formerly Twitter). The video is attached to the caption “ Senator Ahmed Lawan is advocating for better internet access for all Nigerians so that electronic voting can be a reality in the future, he said, according to a former Minister of Communications. Currently, less than 50% of Nigerians have access to the internet.”
In the viral video, the senator said “There was so much argument at that time whether Nigeria was prepared to have effective and efficient electronic voting system, given the total coverage at the time and it was very obvious that we didn’t have the correct information regarding who is covered and who is not, especially in the Nigerian rural environment.” He added that “the minister of communications at that time came and said the coverage (internet access) was less than 50%. That is to say, only about 50% of Nigerians could participate in the electronic voting system.”
The senator made the case while talking about electronic voting and the need to ensure every part of the country has access to the internet and can participate in electronic voting in the future. The video attached to the tweet garnered over 61,000 engagements as of the time of this report.
Claim: The internet access coverage in Nigeria is less than 50%
Verification
The CDD War Room found multiple reports by Statista dated March 2024, a few months before Ahmed Lawan re-emphasized the claim allegedly made by a former minister of communications.
The first report highlights that “The percentage of households with internet access in Nigeria was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by a total of 9.3 percentage points. After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the internet penetration is estimated to reach 37.08% and therefore a new peak in 2029.”
In another Statista report, “Internet user penetration in Nigeria saw a slight increase between the years 2018 and 2022, going from around 26% to over 38%. As of 2022, the estimated number of internet users in the country was more than 83 million. Moreover, the share of the Nigerian population using the internet is expected to grow to approximately 48% by 2027.”
In another report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), “ the number of internet subscribers stood at 163.8 million as of December 2023.” However, there was no available data to indicate the total population estimated for this report, hindering us from calculating the percentage of internet subscribers as of December 2023.
Furthermore, the CDD War Room contacted the Communication & Public Relations Department (C&PRD) at the National Bureau of Statistics for clarification and robust insight into their published reports. However, we received no response.
Therefore, the CDD War Room can conclude that based on the reports from Statista, the percentage of households with internet access and internet user penetration is estimated to be 38% and 48% respectively.
Verdict: ALL WE KNOW