Internet Access: “Between 4 AM and 10 AM, I used 3GB. How I used it, I don’t know”

In today’s digital age, internet access is no longer a luxury but a “basic necessity of life.” Yet, in modern Nigeria, the high cost of internet access remains a big barrier, especially for young people. 

With MTN and other ISPs looking to increase tariffs for both voice and data, things may only get tougher.

In this edition of PoliZ Life, we spoke to Joju, a student-hustler, about how the high cost of internet data is affecting him. Here’s what he had to say:

Yesterday, between 4 AM and 10 AM, I used 3GB of data. How I used it, I don’t know. Now that I’m at home, I’m on my phone most of the time, and I spend ₦1500 on data everyday, which is actually very ridiculous, and I don’t use more than Twitter and Tiktok. In this country, you need data for work and almost everything and that’s too much money, too many expenses on a basic necessity of life.

I’m a graphic designer, so I use Canva, Illustrator and Photoshop. I always need to be online. As long as you’re a creative, you need to be online, you need to see what’s going on. The more ideas you see, the more your creativity implodes. I’m also a photographer. I have to download a lot of pictures, quality pictures. Last week, I had a gig. I had to send a lot of files to the customer. The cost of data doesn’t make life easier, because the money you get from work, you’ll have to spend it on data.

The high cost of data means that you have to spend a lot of money because the money you would have spent on other things goes towards data. Data is like food and you’ll choose it over other things. You can’t even say you want to go off the grid. You’ll lose opportunities by being offline. That’s exactly how it will affect my work. There was this particular time in school. My 12 o’clock class was shifted to 2 PM, but I didn’t know.

My data finished like an hour before the class and I said I was going to buy data after the class. Three hours offline wouldn’t hurt, right? I got to the class and nobody was there. The cost of data had me panicking and I paid the price, literally and figuratively.

How is the cost of data affecting Nigerian youths? In a lot of ways, because money we should be spending to upgrade, to invest in things that will benefit our lives, to learn skills, we spend it on data.

The average Nigerian youth spends like ₦10,000 on data in a week, 40k in a month. That’s somebody’s salary! You can’t even say you don’t want to buy data because if you need it to invest in yourself, to learn skills. Even in school, you need data to read and do research. You need data for everything! That’s what I’m trying to say.

Joju’s experience shows just how much the high cost of data is weighing on young Nigerians. But his story is just one of many. How has the cost of data affected you?

Hit us up on any of our social media or shoot us a mail- ijoba@poliz.ng to share your story.

If you liked these, you would like to read Funmilola’s struggle during the fuel scarcity.