TOWARDS THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNET OF THINGS: A REVIEW OF THE NIGERIAN CASE.

Abstract

 Internet of Things (IoT) possesses the potential to exponentially transform the economy of developing countries by coordinating the provision of essential services that will benefit the people. However, this can only be realized if IoT investments are made in critical sectors of the economy while the challenges hampering its successful deployment and use are identified and addressed. Thus this paper summarizes the extant and emerging areas of IoT application at a global level and in Nigeria over a period of ten years, identifying the technical and nontechnical challenges impeding IoT development, recommending possible solutions and identifying possible areas for future research. Relying on information synthesized from the analyses of vast volumes of available literature from academia and the industry, the paper explained how simple IoT solutions could be adopted to improve key sectors of our economy, analyzed some of the challenges impeding IoT development and recommended strategies to overcome those challenges. It appears that effective use of IoT solutions will rely on regulatory amendment in the areas of spectrum and data security to make the former more available and cheap for use and the latter more secure, respecting the user’s privacy. Furthermore, adoption of renewable energy solutions, extension of fiber to unreached areas, re-farming of GSM networks and inclusion of IoT courses in schools are some solutions that can curb these challenges. Achieving successful deployment and use of IoT in Nigeria will require concerted efforts from all the stakeholders in order to surmount the existing challenges in the areas