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Digital economy could potentially account for 45% of Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) as digitization slowly but steadily gains grounds in Africa’s largest but struggling economy of over 200 million people.
According to Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, “the digital economy as s sector could be contributing as much as 45 per cent to GDP, considering that services in other sectors are being digitised leveraging on the ICT infrastructure.”
The ICT sector has progressively grown to become one of the major contributors to Nigeria’s GDP. In Q2, the sector’s contribution grew higher and account for 17.83% of the GDP. ICT outstrips oil and gas in Nigeria’s economy by the recent record of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Citing the World Economic Forum (WEF) report, which documents the huge economic potentials of digital economy, Pantami said his ministry has developed the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025 and several other policy initiatives to ensure effective digitisation of the Nigerian economy whether within the public or private sector.
“Our efforts have culminated in impressive 17 per cent ICT contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the second quarter of 2020,” said the minister at a recent event in Abuja, adding that the outcome testifies to ongoing effective implementation of the digital economy policies already put in place.
