Giving Compass' Take:

· According to Neku Atawodi-Edun, Google's plan to bring free, public high-speed wifi to Nigeria could help lift the country out of extreme poverty and add roughly $300 billion to the total GDP by 2025.

· How does internet and technology help with global development? How does this initiative help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals?

· Read more about efforts to end extreme poverty. 

Google recently announced plans to bring free high speed Wi-Fi to 200 public spaces in Nigeria through its Google station initiative. The most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria will be the fifth country to launch Google station and the first on the continent.

Increased online users equates to more people using various Google products and increased advertising revenue for Google. While this might be a clear investment by Google to increase its bottom line, it is also a welcome move that has the potential to catalyze socioeconomic development in a country whose population is growing more quickly than her available resources.

McKinsey released a projection showing that if internet penetration continues to grow at the same rate mobile phone penetration did on the African continent, it could contribute as much as $300 billion to the continent’s total GDP, by the year 2025.

Read the full article about free wifi by Neku Atawodi-Edun at Global Citizen.