Shittu: Telecoms Contributed N1.04trn to GDP in 2015

Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu has said that the telecommunications sector contributed N1.04 trillion to the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015.

The minister, who disclosed this in Lagos recently during a stakeholders’ conference on corporate governance, said that the sector contributed that much to the GDP because of the liberalisation of the telecoms industry, which he said, opened investment opportunities for both local and foreign compa- nies, contributing significantly to the country’s GDP.

He explained that in contrast to the economy as a whole, which regressed to 0.36 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, the telecoms sector contributed in progressive and real terms, about 8.83 per cent to the GDP in the same period, which he said, represented an increase of 0.5 per cent, relative to the growth in the last quarter of 2015.

According to him, apart from attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in excess of $38 billion and reflating the economy, the telecoms value chain, including formal and informal, continued to create a significant number of job opportunities for the country’s teaming youths. Other positive spin-offs included increasing local content and rising income per capital/per head for employees in the sector, according to the minister.

“As the sector regulator, we are not resting on our oars and basking in the euphoria of our widely-documented successes, because we are committed to sustaining and building on the formidable structures established over the years for the industry to thrive,” Adebayo said. We desire an industry that will grow bigger, better and be more relevant to successive generations, he added.

However, he said that in recognition of the need to sustain the phenomenal success recorded in the industry, and replicate the lessons learnt in other sectors that had gone through the ‘boom and bust’

cycle, the Commission in 2012, set up a multi-stakeholder Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG), with membership drawn from the telecoms industry, the Commission and corporate governance practitioners, to determine the industry corporate governance needs and the best approach to be adopted in addressing them. The group, he said, developed the Code of Corporate Governance for the telecoms industry, which was made voluntary and published in 2014.