Abstract
The importance of telecommunications to personal, economic, educational political, social and
cultural development cannot be over emphasized. This is because of the central role of telecoms
in communications especially across physical and remote boundaries. Inappropriately, most rural
communities do not have access to stable telecom services. This is due to several challenges
particularly infrastructural gaps and deficiencies. The reasons are largely because, business
speculators and advisory agencies discriminate against rural communities in telecommunication
expansion as investments are not recouped speedily because of the volume of turnover as those in
the rural areas do not have much resources to acquire telecommunication gadgets and do not
consume telecommunications services as much as those in the cities. The objective of this research
was to provide a human rights perspective to securing telecoms access in Nigerian rural
communities. The doctrinal method of research was adopted. The research found that the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) protects the right to freedom
of expression. However, it fails to impose any binding obligation on the State to provide
infrastructure for modern means of expression such as telecommunication access. Secondly, in
Nigeria the Right to Education has been penciled both as a fundamental objective and directive
principles of state policy and a legal right by the 1999 constitution. Furthermore, under the
Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004 and the Child Rights Act, 2003, basic
education (primary and secondary school) are compulsory for all Nigerian Children and parents
or guardians who fail to comply can be penalized. We are in a digital age where right to education
cannot be enjoyed without telecommunication access and this is more so, where major
qualifications examinations like Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Examinations
are done through digital means and both JAMB and West African Examinations Council (WAEC)
board resort to electronic communications to reach the students on information concerning the
examinations. On the contrary, at the African regional and international levels, telecoms access
has become directly linked to human rights as basic and necessary for the enjoyment of human
rights. The paper concludes therefore that the Nigerian Law is grossly behind when it comes to
international best practices both under the African regional framework and the United Nations.
Therefore, the Nigerian law needs to be amended to catch up with global human rights best
practices. This will be important to secure a human rights basis for Nigerian rural community
dwellers especially children of school age to access telecoms services. Without such integration
of telecoms access into human rights, the business model of provision of the services will continue
to discriminate against rural dwellers.