Owning to its massive expansion, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry’s contribution to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased to 9.76 percent in 2022, up from the 6.55 percent that was recorded in 2021. This sector is widely acknowledged as one of the most rapidly growing in Nigeria. According to Ajibola Olude, the executive secretary of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the sector is considered to have developed tremendously due to a number of different factors.
One of the factors he cited is the ongoing push to shift all government and commercial sector services online, which he said resulted in a rise in the organization’s use of data. He further stated that as a result of the efforts being made by the central bank of Nigeria to move toward a cashless policy economy, an increasing number of people and organizations are gradually adopting the use of USSD, mobile, and internet banking, amongst many other forms of electronic payment, which also tends to improve the state of the ICT sector.
Compared to 2021, a growth rate of 10.72% was reported in 2022.
The rise of the Nigerian economy is also attributed to more capital being acquired in the ICT industry through foreign direct investment. According to the data provided by the industry, it signifies that the information and telecommunications sector had the greatest growth rate when compared to other ICT sectors that are present in the economy. In 2022, the growth rate for the sector increased by 10.72 percent compared to the previous year’s figure of 7.28 percent, which was reported in 2021.
Also, in the past three years, the ICT sector has made three contributions to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) that have never been seen before. These contributions are as follows: 14.07 percent in the first quarter of 2020, 17.92 percent in the second quarter of 2021, and 18.44 percent in the second quarter of 2022. It is noteworthy that those were the highest-ever contributions of the information and communications technology sector to Nigeria’s GDP.
Digital economy policy will speed up the digitalization process.
Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria’s Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, spoke at the Digital Nigeria Day (DND) in 2022 with the theme “Digital Transformation: A Path To Sustainable Digital Economy,” he emphasized the importance of implementing a digital economy policy in order to speed up the process of digitalization and thereby improve the digital economy. The minister stressed the importance of digital platforms in fostering the digitization of business operations, which has resulted in substantial cost savings.
Therefore, he charged relevant stakeholders with maintaining their current levels of support for the ministry in order to hasten the expansion of the digital economy. One trend that may influence the future of information and communication technology is the widespread usage of cloud computing in the years leading up to 2023. Many individuals in Nigeria may go to cloud computing solutions in the future in order to store and process their data because firms in the country are continually searching for new ways to save costs and increase their productivity.
Increase in internet and mobile services subscribers expands the sector.
As a result of the growth that was seen in the industry during the fourth quarter (Q4) of the year 2020, it became the sector of the Nigerian economy that was expanding at the quickest rate and the only sector to have risen by double digits. It reportedly had a significant part in helping Nigeria recover from the recession. Operators in the ICT sector revealed that the sector’s expansion is largely due to the rising number of people subscribing to internet and mobile services and the widespread use of broadband internet access.
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