Information technology in Nigerian universities: Patterns of adoption and use by academic staff

Use of information technology (IT) is becoming prevalent in Nigerian universities however, not much is known about how Nigerian university academics use IT. A questionnaire was administered to 1000 academics proportionally selected from ten universities in Nigeria with the aim of finding out levels of information technology adoption and use, characteristics of IT use by lecturers, and factors which influence IT use. Results show that IT is used by 92.5% of academics in the survey. Daily use of computers was 415.5%. Use of, and attitudes towards IT were independent of gender and academic rank but varied by discipline. Computer applications used by most academics were word processing, email and W W W. Internet facilities were mainly used for communication. Main hindrances to IT use are infrastructural and financial, though volume of academics' workload was also a hindrance. Even though use of computers appears high, the potentials of IT for facilitating and enhancing university education in Nigeria are still not being fully explored. There is need for formulating university policies and designing appropriate programs, as well as providing infrastructural support, to help academics explore these potentials. Programs aimed at facilitating IT integration in Nigerian universities will be more successful if they are targeted at disciplines rather than gender or rank.