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If the figures released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that the Information and Communications Technology’s (ICT) contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 13.8 per cent is anything to go by, then it will more than double the Oil and Gas contribution of 8.8 per cent in two years, according to the Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
The Minister stated this yesterday at the ongoing session of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU Telecom World 2019) in Budapest, Hungary.
As the leader of Nigerian delegation to the yearly event, Pantami said that the government wants to sustain the steady growth of ICT in the country, hence the need to attend events like these, which will enable delegates network and get the best ideas. “And when we return home, we put all of them to work towards the development of our country”.
The Minister commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for successfully putting together Nigeria’s participation and told the delegates “to maximise the opportunity provided by the attendance by thinking global and acting local.
“I want to thank the NCC for organising the Nigeria’s participation in this very important event. The effort is highly commendable. We hope the tempo will be sustained.
“I’ve been saying it and I’ll repeat it again that the future of the world is in the ICT. It is a privilege to be part and parcel of this sector and, at the same time, to be with the stakeholders of the ICT in Nigeria,” adding that “if you look at it critically, and most importantly, the recent statistics released by the NBC, it will tell you that the future is indeed in the ICT. So this is a clear indication that at the pace ICT is growing in Nigeria, most probably in the next two or three years, the contribution of the ICT to the GDP will, at least, double that of oil sector. This is a country that was relying so much on oil sector but they are not even neighbours. Now the gap between the two is wide, eight and 13.”
