Big data and business analytics are trends that are positively impacting the business world. Past researches show that data generated in the modern world is huge and growing exponentially. These include structured and unstructured data that flood organizations daily. Unstructured data constitute the majority of the world’s digital data and these include text files, web, and social media posts, emails, images, audio, movies, etc. The unstructured data cannot be managed in the traditional relational database management system (RDBMS). Therefore, data proliferation requires a rethinking of techniques for capturing, storing, and processing the data. This is the role big data has come to play. This paper, therefore, is aimed at increasing the attention of organizations and researchers to various applications and benefits of big data technology. The paper reviews and discusses, the recent trends, opportunities and pitfalls of big data and how it has enabled organizations to create successful business strategies and remain competitive, based on available literature. Furthermore, the review presents the various applications of big data and business analytics, data sources generated in these applications and their key characteristics. Finally, the review not only outlines the challenges for successful implementation of big data projects but also highlights the current open research directions of big data analytics that require further consideration. The reviewed areas of big data suggest that good management and manipulation of the large data sets using the techniques and tools of big data can deliver actionable insights that create business values.

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This paper identified the ways in which Nigeria and her Information technology professionals can beneficially position themselves in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). The fourth industrial revolution refers to a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. The research identified that key driving forces for the fourth industrial revolution included disruptive technologies, Internet of Things, Robotics, Artificial intelligence, and Virtual Reality. Skills that would be sort after in this digital economic era include professionals who have expertise in artificial intelligence, cyber security, as well as proactive developers who can build dynamic systems to suit into the digital revolution. Nigeria as seen in the research missed out on the three previous industrial revolutions and is about to miss out on the fourth industrial revolution and the research proffers solutions on how to prevent this disaster from happening and the role IT educators need to play to ensure a smooth glide of the Nigerian economy into the fourth industrial revolution.

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The study was aimed at identifying the prospects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for digital growth and National development. The research adopted a descriptive research methodology where a field survey was conducted. The population of the study comprised of Information and communication technology professionals in Nigeria. Furthermore, 100 information and communication technology professionals were purposively sampled from the academia and the industry, thus making the sample size 100. The instrument for primary data collection was a ten-point questionnaire. The result from the study identified artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud computing, ubiquitous computing, Internet of Things, big data analytics and block chain technology as key ICTs technologies that are driving the digital economy, fostering digital growth and national development. The study further revealed the prospects of ICTs for digital growth and National Development in Nigeria to include; increase in revenue, elimination of the black economy, reduction in corruption; increase in trust, privacy and integrity. These prospects however are hindered by some challenges identified in the study to include; Poor infrastructure, Policy implementation issues, high cost of ICTs, irregular access to ICTs, bureaucratic bottle necks, skills gaps and cyber security issues. The study therefore