Number of Internet users has been rising linearly since roughly 2004₄
Currently (in 2019) about half of Nigeria uses the internet₄
Numbers are expected to rise exponentially in the future, with about 85% of the country on the internet by 2023₉
Ratio of Urban to Rural areas with internet and cell phone users are about 5:1₆
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9 Statista. (n.d.). Internet user penetration in Nigeria from 2017 to 2023. In Statista - The Statistics Portal. Retrieved April 23, 2019 from https://www.statista.com/statistics/484918/internet-user-reach-nigeria/
Laws Regarding the Internet
For Freedom:
Digital Rights & Freedom Bill (2015)
This bill has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, and now only needs the President to sign it. This would "guarantee the application of human rights, within the digital environment and promote the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association online, among other impacts on internet freedom."₇
Against Freedom:
Communication Service Tax Bill (2015)
Constant power cuts
Analysis
Nigeria currently is lacking in it's internet penetration, though it's expected to rise by roughly 8% per year moving forward with 85% of the population expected to have access by 2023. For a long time, the availability of internet in Nigeria has been low, with just 28% of the population using the internet as recently as 2017. However around 80% of the population has a cell phone subscription, which accounts for the primary mode of communication for the country. In this aspect, Nigeria does not have a significant issue with freedom and communication, though access to the web is different.
In November of 2017, people discovered that 21 websites were blocked in the country by service providers. This also included a popular news site called Naij.com. In a further development in this story, it was also revealed that the NCC (Nigerian Communications Commission) had asked service providers to block these sites. The cause of this might be because most of these sites promoted the independence of Biafra, a region of Nigeria that tried to secede in 1967 and fought against the government in the Biafran War. The good news about this is that just months later, Naij.com was unblocked, however 15 of the other sites continue to remain blocked as of today.