Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami, is optimistic that with the second quarter contribution of the Information and Communications Technology, ICT, to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, the sector will floor oil and gas in two years’ time.
He disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, put ICT’s contribution to the GDP at 13.8 per cent in the second quarter, while oil and gas was put at 8.8 per cent. Pantami was speaking at the ongoing International Telecommunications Union, ITU, Telecom World 2019 in Budapest, Hungary.
As the leader of Nigerian delegation to the yearly event, Pantami said the “government wants to sustain the steady growth of ICT” in the country; hence the need to attend events that will enable delegates network and get the best ideas.The minister commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for seeing to the country’s participation and told the delegates to maximise the opportunity provided by the attendance.
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, told the minister that the commission decided, this year, not to erect a pavilion, which is consistent with the cost-saving measures of the Federal Government.He said, “The ministry is aware of this cost-cutting measures we put in place to scale down the resources we deploy in hosting Nigeria at important international events.
“We have provided information on what agencies under the Ministry of Communications are doing to grow the ICT sector in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, to check cyber crime, NCC has initiated a process to establish an Internet Industry Code of Practice for service providers in the country.
