The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, has said the quarterly revenues generated for the Federal Government rose from N51.3 billion to N408.7 billion through spectrum sales and taxes from the ICT sector.
Pantami disclosed this in a speech delivered at the third edition of Digital Nigeria Day on Monday. The speech highlighted some of the major milestones which
Today makes it 3 years since the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy commenced the implementation of a Policy and Strategy for the development of a Digital Economy in Nigeria.
According to Pantami, the ICT sector provided 3 unprecedented contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in the last 3 years, namely 14.07% in Q1 2020, 17.92% in Q2 2021, and 18.44% in Q2 2022. At each time, these numbers are the highest ever contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP.
“ICT sector grew by 14.70% in Q4 2020, making it the fastest-growing sector of the Nigerian economy in the last quarter of 2020 and the only sector to have grown by double digits.
“This played a critical role in enabling Nigeria to exit the recession. Furthermore, the quarterly revenues also generated for the Federal Government rose from N51.3 billion to N408.7 billion, through spectrum sales and taxes from the sector.”
Further, over 863,372 citizens benefited from digital skills programs and the Ministry has agreements with leading global companies like Microsoft and Huawei, to train millions of Nigerians.
When Pantami assumed office on the 21st of August 2019, the official broadband penetration figures stood at 33.72% and today it is 44.65%, representing close to 13 million new broadband users.
He noted that there were 13,823 4G base stations and now 36,751, representing a 165.86% increase. The percentage of 4G coverage across the country also increased from 23% to 77.52%.
Additionally, the cost of data has crashed from N1,200 per GB to about N350, making it easier for Nigerians to connect to the Internet.
“The quarterly savings from the IT projects’ clearance process rose from N12.45 million to N10.57 billion,” he noted
He said the government aims to create a pool of Innovation Driven Enterprises (IDEs) to accelerate the development of Nigeria’s digital economy.
“Through our efforts, 355,610 direct and indirect jobs were created. Privacy concerns are also being addressed through the newly established Nigeria Data Protection Bureau (NDPB).
“The drafting of the data protection bill has reached an advanced stage. The Digital Identity enrolments have also been very successful, with issued National Identification Numbers (NINs) rising from less than 40 million to over 90 million,” Pantami added.