Developing an Original Theoretical Model of Data Inequality in Nigeria’s Digital Economy

Data inequality, the unequal distribution of both data generation capacity and data-derived benefit, is an emerging structural dimension of economic inequality in Nigeria's digital economy that lacks theoretical grounding and empirical measurement frameworks. This study developed an original theoretical model of data inequality in Nigeria's digital economy. A constructive theoretical methodology was employed, drawing on systematic review of data inequality and digital economy scholarship (58 publications from 2019 to 2024), empirical analysis of survey and administrative data on digital technology access, data generation behaviour, and AI-derived service access across demographic and geographic groups, and expert consultation. Analysis of NCC consumer survey data and NBS household survey data confirmed significant data generation inequality: the top quintile by income generated 71.4 percent of all smartphone data traffic in the study period. Data-derived service access inequalities were measured in three dimensions: algorithmic credit scoring access, personalised health information access, and e-commerce recommendation system access, each showing strong income and geographic gradients. The original Data Inequality Model of Nigeria's Digital Economy proposes a two-tier inequality structure: primary data inequality (differential capacity to generate valuable data) and secondary data inequality (differential access to data-derived benefits). The model identifies three mechanisms by which primary inequality reproduces secondary inequality: algorithmic exclusion, value extraction asymmetry, and governance gap exploitation. Expert review by 20 digital economy and data justice scholars confirmed the model's theoretical originality.

Keywords: data inequality, digital economy, Nigeria, algorithmic exclusion, data justice