CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This century has witnessed the transformation of the human society from the industrial age to information age. The volume of information that circulates in an economy is now a measure of the level of advancement of any economy. Industries enjoy relative advantage over their competitors if they have monopoly of some classes of business information. Nation is stronger than others because they have more information. It is therefore, not surprising that government and private business organizations invest significant proportion of their budget in information technology. The computer plays a central role in the acquisition, processing, storage, dissemination and use of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information. The use of computer has revolutionized the way we do business, study, work, and social activities and so on, as well as continue to touch and change our daily lives in a profound way. So significant is the impact of computer that it is regarded as an enabling technology, the facilitator of change and the creator of hitherto unimaginable possibilities.
According to Okolo (2007), the critical analysis of the definition of computer, performs three devises that qualify it as a computer;
1. Receiving input as data.
2. Processing the received data.
iii. Providing the processed data as information.
Therefore, a person’s skills in using computer system will largely determine his or her values in workforce in coming decades. Computer literacy is already beginning to create a great impact on career opportunities as ordinary literacy did in the past.