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The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has announced that the Information, Communication and Technology, ICT sector contributed 17.83% to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2020 (Q2 2020).
The Ministry made this known in a statement signed by Dr Femi Adeluyi, the Technical Assistant to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
According to the statement, the ICT’s contribution was contained in a statement released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS on Monday, August 24.
The NBS revealed that Nigeria’s GDP decreased by 6.10% (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2020 adding that the ICT’s contribution is 20.54% higher than its contribution a year earlier and in the preceding quarter in which it accounted for 14.07%.
The decrease was attributed to both the lower levels of domestic and international economic activity during the quarter.
It was gathered that the non-oil sector contributed 91.07% to the nation’s GDP in Q2 2020 as opposed to the 8.93% contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy stated that the growing contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP is a direct result of the focused and committed effort of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He added that the strategic policy directions of the Federal Government include the inclusion of Digital Economy in the mandate of the Ministry.
Others are the unveiling and implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the National Broadband Plan, amongst others.
According to Pantami, the unprecedented contribution of ICT to Nigeria’s GDP can also be attributed to dynamic and results-oriented leadership which has been acknowledged and appreciated by a wide spectrum of the stakeholders in the sector.