TOWARDS BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN AFRICA: A CALL FOR LEGISLATION ON RIGHTS TO ACCESS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY AS FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

One of the rights to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is that everyone must be able to communicate and access the modern communications and internet in order to exercise and enjoy one’s right to freedom of expression and opinion and no one should be denied of such rights by way of location, illiteracy or poverty. The United Nations specialised agency; the International Telecommunication Union spearheads this reform globally. This is aimed at ensuring that communication services get to all especially the unserved, underserved areas and underserve groups. The ICT sector has gone through a lot of reforms in Africa and Government has made policies and enacted laws in other to bridge the divide. In Nigeria Universal Service Fund is one of government response to digital inclusion through legislation.. However, there still exists unequal access to ICT in the rural and underserved communities. The aim of this study is to create the awareness for the need to legislate rights of access to ICT to law and for its interpretation as fundamental human rights. This paper employed the doctrinal method where primary and secondary sources of law were examined. It is found that right ICT is not part of the fundamental human rights contained in Chapter 4 of the Constitution. The paper among others advocates for the legislation of such right into law in other to effectively bridge the access divide.