Communications Ministry Gets N129.59bn Allocation In Six Years

The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy was allocated a total of N129.59bn in six years, according to an analysis of budget details.

The ministry was allocated N15.99bn in 2016; N19.33bn in 2017, and N19.77bn in 2018.

The allocation dropped to N17.62bn in 2019 and N17.41bn in 2020 but increased to N39.47bn in 2021.

In the six years, the ministry was allocated N77.92bn for personnel cost, N1.94bn for overhead, and N49.69bn for capital expenditure.

Under the ministry, its headquarters got N35.59bn, the Nigerian Postal Service got N53.23bn, and the Nigeria Communication Satellite got N27.81bn.

The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy was created to foster a knowledge based economy and information society in Nigeria.

According to its website, it was created to facilitate ICT as a key tool in the transformation agenda for Nigeria in the areas of job creation, economic growth and transparency of governance.

The ministry directly oversees the Nigerian Communications Commission, the National Information Technology Development Agency, NIPOST, the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, Galaxy Backbone, and the National Identity Management Commission.

In the second quarter of 2021, the ICT sector contributed 17.92 per cent to the real GDP of the nation.

According to the ministry, ICT’s contribution is one of the fastest-growing components of the country’s GDP and is emerging as its most important long-term growth prospect.

In the 2022 budget document, it was revealed that N160.59bn has been budgeted for the ministry; this is more than the combined N129.59bn allocated to the ministry from 2016 to 2021.