In similar developments, the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has announced plans to enforce corporate governance code among all players in the industry to maintain growth.
The NCC executive vice chairman, Professor Umaru Danbatta, who spoke in Lagos, on Tuesday, June 21, at a stakeholders’ forum on the code, said the liberalisation of the telecoms industry, had opened investment opportunities for both local and foreign companies, contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Danbatta said in contrast to the economy as a whole, which regressed to -0.36 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, the telecoms sector contributed, in progressive and real terms, about 8.83 per cent to the GDP in the same period. This represents an increase of 0.5 per cent, relative to the growth in the last quarter of 2015.
“Similarly, apart from attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in excess of $38 billion and reflating the economy, the telecoms value-chain (formal and informal) continues to create a significant number of job opportunities for our teeming youths. Other positive spin-offs include increasing local content and rising income per capita/per head for employees in the sector,” he said.
He noted that as the sector regulator, the NCC was not resting on its oars and basking in the glory of the widely-documented successes.
