Operators and stakeholders of Nigeria’s telecom ecosystem have applauded the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for rallying the sector to an unprecedented 14.07 percent contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

They attributed the record to the regulatory skills shown by the leadership of the NCC even at a time the nation’s economic outlook was seriously undermined by prevailing downturn in the global economy. Staff of the commission were coy in celebrating the feat, preferring to focus on further growing the telecom space post-Covid-19 pandemic.

Nigeria’s telecom regulator-in-chief and CEO of NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, is not one to blow his trumpet but industry watchers said he played key role with his unobtrusive regulatory style in achieving the feat, especially in Q1 of 2020 when other sectors of the economy were paralysed by the dip in oil revenue and allied indicators.

Since his arrival at the NCC, Danbatta has rallied the telecom sector to a steady growth, making yearly incremental progression in its contribution to the GDP.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, in a statement signed by Dr Femi Adeluyi, Technical Assistant, Information Technology to the Minister on Sunday in Abuja, said he was delighted to hear of the growth of ICT’s contribution to Nigeria’s GDP in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020.

According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released Nigeria’s GDP report for Q1 2020 on May 25.

”The Report observed that the country’s GDP grew by 1.87 per cent year-on-year in real terms in Q1 2020.

”The non-oil sector contributed 90.50 per cent to the nation’s GDP in Q1 2020 as opposed to the 9.50 per cent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector.

”It is noteworthy that the ICT sector contributed 14.07 per cent to the total real GDP in Q1 2020, higher than its contribution a year earlier, which was 13.32 per cent and in the preceding quarter, in which it accounted for 13.12 per cent.

”This contribution is unprecedented,” he said.

Pantami said that the growing contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP, was a direct result of the focused and committed effort of the Federal Government.

He said the Federal Government strategic policy direction included inclusion of Digital Economy in the mandate of the Ministry, unveiling and implementation of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy as well as National Broadband Plan, among others.

The minister noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had  shown how critical the ICT sector was to the growth of the country’s digital economy and by extension, the general economy.

He called on all sectors to take advantage of the government’s new focus on the digital economy to enable and improve their processes through the use of ICT.

“This would enhance the output of all the sectors of the economy and boost Nigeria’s GDP,” he said.