Minister urges DGs to increase ICTcontribution to GDP

The Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has hailed 13.8 percent ICT contribution to GDP in the second quarter of 2019.

He urged the heads of agencies under the ministry to increase the figure.

In the report released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the contribution of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpassed that of Oil and Gas in the second quarter of 2019.

The report observed that the country’s GDP grew by 1.94% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the second quarter of 2018, which recorded a growth of 1.50%.

The non-oil sector contributed 91.18% to the nation’s GDP in the second quarter of 2019 as opposed to the 8.82% contributed to total real GP by the oil sector.

Particularly, the ICT sector contributed 13.85% to total nominal GDP in the second quarter of 2019 which is much higher than the 11.22% contributed in the same period in 2018.

Dr Pantami said the significant contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP is as a result of the concerted efforts of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, especially the manner in which the implementation of the administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) is being pursued.

These efforts, he said, led to a sustained focus on growing the non-oil sector of the economy, especially ICT and the results witnessed are testimonies of impact of these efforts.