Nigeria’s ICT sector grew by 9.76% in 2022

The contribution of the Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 9.76 percent in 2022 from 6.55 percent reported in 2021.

According to the 2021 full-year GDP report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the sector contributed 16.51 percent to the overall GDP in 2022.

Many factors are responsible for the growth of ICT sector to Nigerian GDP, one of the reasons is the steady awareness to move all services rendered by both the government and private sector online, this, however, leads to an increased usage of more data by the organisation, Ajibola Olude, executive secretary of the association of telecommunication companies of Nigeria (ATCON) said.

“With the central bank of Nigeria on the quest to promote a cashless policy economy, more individuals and organisation are gradually embracing the use of USSD, mobile and internet banking and many others, this also tends to improve the ICT sector.”

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“More money coming into the country via foreign direct investment in capital importation in the ICT sector, this also accounts for the growth in the Nigerian economy,” he said.

However, the country’s ICT sector comprises four activities – Telecommunications and Information Services, Publishing, Motion Picture, Sound Recording, Music Production; and Broadcasting.

Data reported by the industry indicates that the telecommunication and information sector reported the highest growth rate compared to other ICT sectors in the economy.

On a year-on-year basis, the sector growth rate increased by 10.72 percent in 2022, higher than the 7.28 reported in 2021

Industry operators say this sector growth can be attributed to the increasing number of internet service subscribers, mobile service subscribers, and the growth in broadband penetration.

Nigeria’s broadband penetration stood at 47.36 percent as of December 2022, according to Nigeria’s telecommunication data. The country has set a 70 percent penetration target by 2025. This means Nigeria has an additional 22.64 percent in terms of broadband coverage to achieve.

Moreso, in order to meet the target set by the federal government to increase the contribution of the ICT sector to GDP via a five-year plan, all hands must be on deck where the government priorities what is necessary to achieve the set goal by the end of the year 2025.