Mobile phone usage in rural communities in Kwara state, Nigeria

Abstract

The rise in mobile telephony has continued to bridge the wide disparity between urban and rural dwellers, although there are suggestions that mobile phones have not been optimally utilized by rural dwellers. In view of this, the main aim of this study was to examine mobile phone usage in rural communities of Kwara State, Nigeri a; considering demographic influence on usage, extent of use, type of ownership and challenges encountered by rural dwellers in the use of mobile phones. The population of study comprised a total of 1475 rural dwellers from twelve communities that were ran domly selected from two local government areas under each of the three senatorial districts in Kwara State. On the whole, findings revealed a considerable adoption of mobile phone s by rural dwellers based on the proportion of the study sample that used it and the various task s performed with the phones such as text messaging, voice calling, among others , in spite of the prevailing challenges. Asides, the influence of demographics such as gender and occupation determined mobile phone usage in the study are a. Policy recommendations were made toward addressing the various challenges confronting rural dwellers in the use of mobile phones.

Key Words: Mobile, phone, usage, telephony, Rural, communities, Nigeria