GLOBALIZATION AND INDIGENOUS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Scholars tend to be overwhelmed by the positive impact of globalization on all aspects of human endeavors, as evident in commerce, learning, communication and technological innovations and transfers with little or no attention paid to its negative impacts on indigenous information technology. Globalization brought about borrowed or foreign technology and western type of information technology, culminating to the loss of some indigenous information technology and cultures. It alienated indigenous people from their traditional methods of information technological processes and lifestyles. Globalization not only pave way for the gradual extinction of some of our cultural information transmission channels, languages and lingual terms, promoted proliferation of deviant and criminal behaviours through the mass media. Through the importation of negative values perpetrated by Hollywood and other imported alien information technology, young ones are enslaved by alien cultures, resulting to their outright condemnation of their inherited cultures and technologies. Some of our young ones do not know how to speak or communicate with their mother tongue. Many have also neglected the town crier method of information dissemination, depending instead on modern media which thus disconnect the young ones from their roots. It is on this basis that this study recommends that counseling, awareness creation, sensitization, behavioral change process and vigorous campaigns should be applied to make people believe that what is foreign is not better than what is indigenous. Media institutions should be made to incorporate indigenous methods of information transmissions in their operations. Efforts should also be made to preserve our indigenous information technology through the promotion of indigenous languages in schools, employ didactic values of the African indigenous languages.