Business
ISA Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, is happy with the rising contribution of the Information and Communications Technology, ICT, sector to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
Pantami stated this in a statement Femi Adeluyi, his technical assistant issued, noting that the ICT sector retained the highest growth rate in the nation’s economy in the first quarter of 2021.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, stated that Nigeria’s economy grew by 0.51 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2021, marking two consecutive quarters of growth following the negative growth rates recorded in the second and third quarters of 2020.
In terms of contribution to aggregate GDP, the oil sector accounted for 9.25 percent of aggregate real GDP in Q1 2021, while the non-oil sector accounted for 90.75 percent of aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2021.
The NBS also noted that the growth in the non-oil sector was driven mainly by the information and communication sector while other drivers include agriculture (crop production); manufacturing (food, beverage & tobacco); real estate; construction, and human health, and social services.
The communications minister said the ICT sector grew by 6.47 percent in Q1 2021, making it the fastest-growing significant sector of the Nigerian economy.
it stated that post and courier services grew by 2.53% in Q1 2021, adding that the services are under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, but currently listed under the transportation sector in the GDP report.
The minister attributed the consistent positive performance of the ICT sector to the focused and committed support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, for the Digital Economy sector.
– May 27, 2021 @ 08:28 GMT
