The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has said he was excited over the growth rate of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector which recorded the highest growth rate of all sectors of the nation’s economy in both the 4th quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020) and the entire year 2020.
Pantami said this was based on the fourth quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020) and the entire year 2020 report on Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the Minister, Dr. Femi Adeluyi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, NBS figures revealed that Nigeria’s GDP grew by 0.11 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters.
It said, “This indicates that we have strongly exited recession. In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.13 per cent to the nation’s GDP in Q4 2020 as opposed to the 5.87 per cent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector.
“It is noteworthy that the ICT sector grew by 14.70 per cent in Q4 2020, making it the fastest growing sector of the Nigerian economy in the last quarter and the only sector to have grown by double digits.
“The ICT sector grew at a rate more than four times the Agriculture sector, which was the next fastest growing sector of Q4 2020, with a growth rate of 3.42 per cent.
“The ICT sector also maintained its rapid growth rate in the overall year 2020 assessment, growing at 12.90 per cent, or over three times the water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation sector, which was next fastest growing sector of 2020 with a growth rate of 3.81 per cent.”
