Revista Internacional de Economia e Ciências de Gestão

Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on Poverty Reduction in Rural Areas in Kogi State

Abstract

Arema Bunmi Israel

Rural areas in Kogi State Nigeria are facing neglect with attendant rise in the rates of poverty, unemployment and general underdevelopment thereby aggravating rural-urban migration. The underdevelopment of rural areas in the State calls for modern day innovations that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers. This study investigated the impact of ICT on rural development in Kogi State from the perspectives of poverty reduction. The study was based on the neoclassical theory of poverty. Multi-stage sampling method was adopted to select 10 households each from 120 rural communities that were earlier randomly selected from the 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State. This makes a total sample of 1,200 households used in the survey. Three models of regression were estimated in the study using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique. The results show that access to, ownership and utilization of ICT by households have had positive and statistically significant impact on poverty reduction in rural areas of Kogi State at 5% significance level. The study concluded that access, ownership and utilization of ICT have positively impacted the people in rural areas of Kogi State. The study recommended that Kogi State government, Non- Governmental Organizations and individual philanthropists should establish more ICT training centers and Community Internet Service Centers (CISC) in rural areas. Also, rural dwellers in Kogi State should make themselves available for ICT training.