Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof.Isa Pantami, has said the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector provided three unprecedented contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in the last 3years.
NewsBeatng reports that ICT grew 14.07% in first quarter of 2020, 17.92% in second quarter of 2021 and 18.44% in second quarter of 2022.
Pantami while delivering his speech at the third edition of Digital Nigeria Day on Monday, said “ICT sector grew by 14.70% in Q4 2020, making it the fastest-growing sector of the Nigerian economy in the last quarter of 2020 and the only sector to have grown by double digits.
“This played a critical role in enabling Nigeria to exit the recession. Furthermore, the quarterly revenues also generated for the Federal Government rose from N51.3 billion to N408.7 billion, through spectrum sales and taxes from the sector.”
He noted that there were 13,823 4G base stations and now 36,751, representing a 165.86% increase. The percentage of 4G coverage across the country also increased from 23% to 77.52%.
” Also, the cost of data has crashed from N1,200 per GB to about N350, making it easier for Nigerians to connect to the Internet.
“The quarterly savings from the IT projects’ clearance process rose from N12.45 million to N10.57 billion,” he noted
He said the government aims to create a pool of Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs) to accelerate the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.
“Through our efforts, 355,610 direct and indirect jobs were created. Privacy concerns are also being addressed through the newly established Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB).
“The drafting of the data protection bill has reached an advanced stage. The Digital Identity enrolments have also been very successful, with issued National Identification Numbers (NINs) rising from less than 40 million to over 90 million,” Pantami added.
He added that the quarterly revenues generated for the Federal Government rose from N51.3 billion to N408.7 billion through spectrum sales and taxes from the ICT sector.
