Gone With The World Wide Web ADEYEYE JOSEPH 'Globalization insights’ is a series of feature stories told by journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America – sto­ries that give an insight into the perceptions and experi­ences of people as globalization unfolds in their environs. This project is jointly organized by the Friedrich-Ebert­Stiftung and IPS EUROPA. Once upon a time the Nigerian capital Lagos was a sce­nic, coastal town nestling by the sea and inhabited by a few thousands. The skyline was beautified by tall, rangy trees. Now Lagos is a city cast in concrete with a smoke-laden skyline and a dirty coast. The landscape is sullied by huge metal masts reaching for the stars. The earliest of these telecommunications masts first sprouted about a decade ago when shops offering Inter­net services made an innocuous entrance into the city’s business landscape. Since then more Internet Cafes and their ubiquitous masts have mushroomed as local businesses strive to meet the city’s growing communication needs. Nigerians throng these cafés in a bid to visit all corners of the small village globalisation has turned the world into. "There was a day I logged into Yahoo messenger and an Indian asked me if there was a problem in Nigeria," slightly builtNapoleon Omere, a computer engineer says. "She said she has had about 87 Nigerians chatting with her on that day alone." Before the Internet revolution, squabbles over Interna­tional Monetary Fund,(IMF), loans and social and eco­nomic upheavals induced by fluctuations in global oil prices were the aspects of globalisation that Nigerians were conversant with. Nigeria is the world’s fifth largest oil producer. But the country owes is 32billion U.S. dollars abroad. Now, the Internet is the facet of globalisation that influ­ences the lives of the average Nigerian more than any other. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the growth of Internet can be surmised from figures. Until recently, Nigeria hardly kept figures. According to a 2002 International Telecommunications Union(ITU) report, however, in 1999 there were 30,000 Internet users in Nigeria. By 2002 the figure had jumped to 420,000. Local experts believe that in the last two years the figures have leapt further, in hundreds of thou­sands. Generally, Nigerians are a genial lot. A BBC report says a 2003 survey placed Nigerians at the top of the happiest people on earth. The average Nigerian loves meeting people and doing some bit of travelling. Yet, a weekend holiday in Benin, Nigeria’s immediate neighbour to the West will set an average wage earner back by the