Recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) shows that the Information and Communications Technology sector of the Nigerian economy grew by 14.70 percent in the last quarter of 2020.
This makes the ICT sector the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy in the last quarter and the only sector to have grown by double digits in the entire year 2020. The sector grew at a rate more than 4 times the Agriculture sector, which was the next fastest growing sector of Q4 2020, with a growth rate of 3.42percent.
The ICT sector also maintained its rapid growth rate in the overall year 2020 assessment, growing at 12.90 percent, or overtimes the Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation sector, which was the next fastest-growing sector of 2020 with a growth rate of 3.81percent. Again, the ICT sector was the only sector with a double-digit growth rate.
Furthermore, the telecommunications sector recorded a growth rate of 15.90% and this was its highest growth rate in the last 10 years.
Commenting on this, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, said he is very delighted that the Information and Communications Technology ICT) the sector recorded the highest growth rate of all the sectors of the Nigerian economy in both the fourth quarter of 2020 (04 2020) and the entire year 2020.
“It is noteworthy that the ICT sector grew by 14.70% in Q4 2020, making it the fastest-growing sector of the Nigerian economy in the last quarter and the only sector to have grown by double digits,” he said.
The Minister attributed the giant strides recorded in the ICT sector to a focused and committed effort of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, highlighting the strategic policy directions of the Federal Government to include the National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), had yesterday released Q4 2020 Report, where it noted that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product GDP) grew by 0.11percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters. This is an indication that Nigeria has strongly exited recession. In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.13percent to the nation’s GDP in Q4 2020 as opposed to the 5.87 percent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector.
