An Assesment of Internet Utilisation in Selected Agricultural Colleges in Plateau State, Nigeria

AN ASSESMENT OF INTERNET UTILISATION IN SELECTED AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES IN PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

by

* Akpokodje, Edore T. MInf.Sci, + Akpokodje, Vera MInf.Sci.

*Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology,

P.O. Box 1, N.V.R.I., Vom, Plateau State, Nigeria.

e-mail: [e-mail]

Tel.: [phone]

Corresponding Author

+ System Unit, University of Jos Library, Plateau State, Nigeria.

e-mail: [e-mail]

Tel: [phone]

ABSTRACT
The study investigated the patterns of Internet use among students of agriculture in some selected colleges of agriculture in Plateau State, Nigeria. A well structured questionnaire was distributed among the 128 HND students of agriculture in colleges of agriculture in Plateau State. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 17.0.1 was used in analysing the data. The present study demonstrates and elaborates the various aspects of Internet use such as; most frequently used place for internet use, purpose for which the Internet is used, use of Internet services, problems faced by users and satisfaction level of users with Internet facility provided in the colleges. The study results revealed that 78.1% of the respondents use the Internet for research, 45.3% access the Internet at a cyber café, slow access speed is the major problem faced by users(48.8%), students between the ages of 20 to 25 years of age spend more time on the Internet than other age categories(43.8%), majority of the respondents utilized the World Wide Web service of the Internet (50.8%) and there is significant association (perfectly positive relationship) between Internet facility, awareness and Internet use. Some suggestions have been put forth to make the service more beneficial for the academic community of agricultural colleges under study.
Key words: Internet Utilisation, Agriculture, Agricultural Tertiary Institutions

INTRODUCTION
In the era

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