Information and Communications Technology, ICT, sector has contributed 13.85 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, in the second quarter of 2019.
According to a report by the Vanguard, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, M. F. Istifanus, disclosed this on Sunday while flagging off a two-day 2019 ICT Data Stakeholders Workshop, in Owerri – Imo State.
“The second-quarter report by the National Bureau of Statistics for 2019, showed that the ICT sector contributed an impressive 13.85 per cent, to the GDP of Nigeria,” Mr Istifanus said.
According to the permanent secretary, this clearly shows the importance and potential of the ICT sector to the country’s job creation and economic diversification agenda.
“In the global economy, much of the economic value generated is based on data and other knowledge assets.
“Governments that fail to harness the potentials of the digital economy are severely handicapping their own economies, by depriving them of the new oil of today’s knowledge economy,” Mr Istifanus added.
He further opined that Nigeria needs to embrace and harness its ICT data resources for good ICT governance, planning, monitoring and reporting in this knowledge era.
“More importantly, the world is experiencing the fourth industrial revolution and becoming a knowledge society grounded in the data economy. Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind”, the Mr Istifanus said.
He cautioned that “sticking to business as usual, implies that Nigeria’s economy will miss the wave and the gap with the economies that are successfully exploiting ICT data resources, would keep widening”.