Many in poor countries cutting corners to bridge the digital gap

LAGOS – Peddlers of pirated software now hold sway on the very streets where drug dealers and prostitutes plied their wares a decade ago in Nigeria’s biggest city.

Otigba Street. Ola Ayeni Street.Even in the adjoining Pepple Street – where renowned musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti had the popular venue where he smoked pot on stage.Every building in the Ikeja district is now packed with computer and cell phone ware, and business is also done on the streets.The Computer Village of Lagos is Nigeria’s response to Silicon Valley, a chance to get in on the digital revolution on the cheap.”This place is the biggest computer market in the entire West Africa,” said Kazeem Adenuga, a computer engineer and specialist dealer in laptops and their accessories.”People come from Ghana, Senegal and even Congo.And they always say they get the cheapest prices here,” he added proudly.On the average 80 per cent of all software in use in Africa are pirated copies, according to the Business Software Alliance of the world’s leading software-makers and their hardware partners.Only wealthier South Africa, at 37 per cent, has a piracy rate close to the global average of 35 per cent.Gerald Ilukwe, manager for Nigeria and Ghana for the world’s leading software-maker Microsoft, says creating an awareness of intellectual property laws is a major challenge of doing business in West Africa.He said only a core of multinational companies and government agencies use licensed software.”There are those who don’t know it’s a crime (to use pirated software) and there are those who are out and out cheats,” said Ilukwe.”It’s this last group we are ready to go all the way with to make sure they comply with the law.”People may use illegal software because they cannot afford licensed copies.Software makers argue the intellectual property system is necessary because protecting investments stimulating the digital revolution safeguards the interests of society as a whole.Traders at the Computer Village say many of the cheap information and communication products on sale in Computer Village are from Asia, mainly China, Malaysia and Taiwan.Cloned computers and cheap mobile phones are the most popular products.Pirated copies of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop software sell for as low as 150 naira (US$1,05).Cell phone handsets, both clones of popular brands and originals, are big sellers in the face of the country’s rapidly expanding mobile network.Some new and used Nokia cell phone brands go for as low 3 000 naira (US$20).More people are using computers in business and the popularity of the Internet has grown.Some of the demand for computers, phones and Internet access in Nigeria have been fuelled by organised crime, especially the Internet scammers who have become notorious around the world.As in large parts of Africa, much of the digital access has been limited to cities and major urban centres and yet to reach rural areas.Official figures show that while mobile phone usage has reached wider penetration, that of the Internet is still less than five per cent.Dial-up Internet access in Nigeria at an average of US$80 a month is still prohibitive for the 70 per cent of the population estimated to live on less than US$1 daily.The same goes for most of the continent.But more and more people are getting online through cybercafes that largely depend on increasingly cheaper broadband connections.Internet use across Africa is estimated to have risen more than 100 per cent in the past three years, according to Balancing Act Africa, a South Africa-based Internet consultancy.It is expected to rise another 81 per cent in the next three years as monopolies and the exclusive agreements of current providers give away to further deregulation and prices crash, the group says.Recognising that an efficient communication system is key to development, Nigeria created a new national communication policy in 2000 committing the government to ensuring that public telecommunications services reach all communities in the country.A special levy charged from the profits of telecommunications companies was introduced to provide a pool of funds for use in facilitating the deployment of services to rural areas by firms that would otherwise restrict their operations to more lucrative cities.Companies are now being given licences that permit the convergence of telephone and Internet services.- Nampa-APOla Ayeni Street.Even in the adjoining Pepple Street – where renowned musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti had the popular venue where he smoked pot on stage.Every building in the Ikeja district is now packed with computer and cell phone ware, and business is also done on the streets.The Computer Village of Lagos is Nigeria’s response to Silicon Valley, a chance to get in on the digital revolution on the cheap.”This place is the biggest computer market in the entire West Africa,” said Kazeem Adenuga, a computer engineer and specialist dealer in laptops and their accessories.”People come from Ghana, Senegal and even Congo.And they always say they get the cheapest prices here,” he added proudly.On the average 80 per cent of all software in use in Africa are pirated copies, according to the Business Software Alliance of the world’s leading software-makers and their hardware partners.Only wealthier South Africa, at 37 per cent, has a piracy rate close to the global average of 35 per cent.Gerald Ilukwe, manager for Nigeria and Ghana for the world’s leading software-maker Microsoft, says creating an awareness of intellectual property laws is a major challenge of doing business in West Africa.He said only a core of multinational companies and government agencies use licensed software.”There are those who don’t know it’s a crime (to use pirated software) and there are those who are out and out cheats,” said Ilukwe.”It’s this last group we are ready to go all the way with to make sure they comply with the law.”People may use illegal software because they cannot afford licensed copies.Software makers argue the intellectual property system is necessary because protecting investments stimulating the digital revolution safeguards the interests of society as a whole.Traders at the Computer Village say many of the cheap information and communication products on sale in Computer Village are from Asia, mainly China, Malaysia and Taiwan.Cloned computers and cheap mobile phones are the most popular products.Pirated copies of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop software sell for as low as 150 naira (US$1,05).Cell phone handsets, both clones of popular brands and originals, are big sellers in the face of the country’s rapidly expanding mobile network.Some new and used Nokia cell phone brands go for as low 3 000 naira (US$20).More people are using computers in business and the popularity of the Internet has grown.Some of the demand for computers, phones and Internet access in Nigeria have been fuelled by organised crime, especially the Internet scammers who have become notorious around the world.As in large parts of Africa, much of the digital access has been limited to cities and major urban centres and yet to reach rural areas.Official figures show that while mobile phone usage has reached wider penetration, that of the Internet is still less than five per cent.Dial-up Internet access in Nigeria at an average of US$80 a month is still prohibitive for the 70 per cent of the population estimated to live on less than US$1 daily.The same goes for most of the continent.But more and more people are getting online through cybercafes that largely depend on increasingly cheaper broadband connections.Internet use across Africa is estimated to have risen more than 100 per cent in the past three years, according to Balancing Act Africa, a South Africa-based Internet consultancy.It is expected to rise another 81 per cent in the next three years as monopolies and the exclusive agreements of current providers give away to further deregulation and prices crash, the group says.Recognising that an efficient communication system is key to development, Nigeria created a new national communication policy in 2000 committing the government to ensuring that public telecommunications services reach all communities in the country.A special levy charged from the profits of telecommunications companies was introduced to provide a pool of funds for use in facilitating the deployment of services to rural areas by firms that would otherwise restrict their operations to more lucrative cities.Companies are now being given licences that permit the convergence of telephone and Internet services. – Nampa-AP