The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, says the ministry in collaboration with parastatals under it has delivered on its mandates by contributing significantly to the development of Nigerian economy.
The minister stated this Monday during a press conference to mark the commencement of the third edition of Digital Nigeria Day in Abuja.
The minister said the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector under his watch has provided 3 unprecedented contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in the last 3 years; 14.07% in Q1 2020, 17.92% in Q2 2021 and 18.44% in Q2 2022.
He added that at each time, these numbers have been the highest ever contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP.
“Also, the 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 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,” he said.
Speaking further, Pantami said that the Ministry excelled at the recently concluded Retreat that was held for all Ministers.
He said the results of the assessment which was carried out by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), United Kingdom and (KPMG) in partnership with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, showed the ministry obtained the highest grade in each of the 8 Ministerial Deliverables.
Highlighting the scores of the Ministry for each deliverable is given below he said on implementation of Broadband Connectivity the ministry scored 134%, deployment of 4G across the country the ministry scored 127%, while on digitalising government functions and processes the ministry scored 99%.
He added that on development and implementation of a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy the ministry scored 103%, implementation of a Digital Identity Programme 86%, improvement and optimization of revenues from all operators and licensees in the agencies under the Ministry’s supervision it scored 594%, on active collaboration with the Private Sector to create jobs it scored 111% and on empowerment of citizens the ministry scored 137%.
