Telecom leads as ICT’s contribution to Nigeria’s real GDP hits 19.78%

In the second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), activities in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) contributed 19.78 per cent to Nigeria’s real GDP.

This showed a marginal increase in contribution when compared to the 19.54 per cent recorded in the same period last year.

NBS noted that on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the ICT sector also recorded an increase in contribution when compared with the preceding quarter. The NBS data showed that ICT contributed 17.89 per cent to the real GDP in Q1 2024.

According to NBS, the ICT sector comprises the four activities of Telecommunications and Information Services; Publishing; Motion Picture, Sound Recording, and Music Production; and Broadcasting.

The ICT sector in the quarter under review recorded a growth rate of 4.44 per cent year-on-year. This was driven largely by activities in the telecommunications sub-sector, which contributed 16.36 per cent to the GDP in the real term. According to NBS, the telecoms industry was the third-largest contributor to the real GDP in Q2 2024, coming behind only crop production and trade industries, which contributed 20.35 per cent and 16.39 per cent respectively.

The telecoms industry, which is dominated by mobile network operators including MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is also driving a lot of activities in every other sector of the economy.

The closest sub-sector to telecoms in the ICT sector in terms of contribution was Broadcasting, which added 2.54 per cent

In terms of Nominal GDP, the NBS data further revealed that the ICT sector contributed 14.19 per cent to the total in the second quarter of 2024, lower than the rate of 14.83 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2023 and higher than the 13.12 per cent it contributed in the preceding quarter.

In nominal terms, the sector growth was recorded at 11.86 per cent (year-on-year), a 29.81 per cent points decrease from the rate of 41.67 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2023, and 2.08 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.