Knowledge Equity Research – Nigeria

Methodology

Context

The DEI perspective in Nigeria was approached on an ethnicity and religious differentiation basis, as this reflects the situation in the country.

• The ethnic groups were grouped into four, with the major three – Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, and the smaller ethnic groups which include Ijaw, Igala, Nupe, Fulani, Tsekiri, Tiv, Urhobo etc.

• The religious differentiation includes Muslims and Christians. The Christian group was further differentiated based on their doctrinal differences (ie. Catholic and Pentecostal) with Pentecostal representing all evangelical and non-orthodox Christians.

• In areas where the responses to some of the survey questions were not differentiated by the communities, it is because the differences were not significantly different from each group response.

• The number of LGBTQI+ respondents was not significantly high, and as such, the data should be read on this basis.

Key Insights

• Overall, people feel Wikipedia is not representative of local culture
• Igbo and smaller ethnic groups feel least represented, but it doesn’t affect Wikipedia usage
• The Hausa community has the most negative perceptions of Wikipedia and use it less
• The LGBTQI+ community has negative perceptions and lower use of Wikipedia
• Driving up community engagement means more relevance and visual content

Usage and Awareness

• Overall, there is high brand awareness of Wikipedia in Nigeria

• Wikipedia recorded an overall high brand awareness at 92%, closely behind Google and YouTube.
• Wikipedia awareness was primarily driven by the Yoruba and Igbo speaking communities
• There is a relatively high use of Wikipedia in Nigeria (median at 64%)
• Tech, business, and science are the key topics communities read about on Wikipedia

Perception and Representation

• Nigerians are more likely to feel their ethnicities and communities are under-represented on Wikipedia 
• Igbo and smaller ethnic communities feel less represented on Wikipedia compared to general local media 
• LGBTQ+ people feel less represented on Wikipedia compared to general local media

Editing

• There is an even interest to edit and contribute to Wikipedia across all communities in Nigeria
• The top three drivers are being part of an initiative that helps the society, interest to share knowledge, and to gain editing experience
• Lack of editing skills, lack of time, and not knowing Wikipedia is editable rank high among barriers to editing

See the complete report