Dec. 30, 2021

As the year 2021 winds down, and not withstanding the security challenges the country is currently grappling with, the Federal government says it has achieved a lot in the year.

According to the minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed addressing a press conference to showcase the achievements of the Buhari administration in the outgoing year, 2021 on Thursday in Lagos, that the year has not been devoid of challenges.

Mohammed noted that in spite of this and the usual economic challenges, especially the dwindling resources available to the government, the Buhari Administration has availed itself creditably.

He lauded the Digital Economy sector for being highly instrumental in lifting the Nigerian economy out of recession.

The minister recalled that in the Q4 2020 Report on Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector recorded the highest growth rate of all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“The breakdown of the different sectors shows that the 14.7% growth rate of the ICT sector was greater than the combined 14.21% growth of the 2nd to 7th fastest growing sectors in 2020.

“The telecommunications sector alone recorded a growth rate of 15.90%, representing its highest growth rate in the last 10 years. In the NBS report for the Q1 2021, the ICT sector maintained its position as the fastest growing sector of the economy.

He added that this therefore indicates that the Digital Economy sector has proven to be vital for the diversification of the Nigerian economy.

“The National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria reflects the focus of the Federal Government with respect to Nigeria’s Digital Economy, which was hinged on 8 strategic pillars. And as part of the efforts aimed at implementing the Policy, some of the projects implemented nationwide include: ICT Innovation Hubs; Digital Skills for Entrepreneurs and Innovators; Community IT Training Centers; Tertiary Institution Knowledge Centers (TIKC); School Knowledge Centers (SKC), Digital Economy Centers, and Emergency Communication Centers (ECC), to mention but a few”.

He added that over 300 of these centers have been established all over the Country.