Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has indicated that the telecommunications sector supports 500,000 employment.
He also stated that the industry’s contribution to GDP had increased from insignificance to 12.61 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2021, emphasizing that the sector had attracted $70 billion in investment to date.
He made the announcement while speaking to a diverse group of stakeholders at the Cyberchain Abuja 2022.
He said, “From $500m investments in the sector as at 2001, the telecommunications industry has recorded over $70bn investment till date, while the growth in the sector has been phenomenal, from some 400,000 functional phone lines in 2001 to over 209 million active mobile subscriptions, achieving a teledensity of 110 per cent, as at August 2022.
“The sector has provided over 500,000 formal and informal jobs for Nigerians. From an insignificant contribution to GDP in 2001, telecoms sector, as at the last quarter of 2021, contributed 12.61 per cent to GDP, while the Information and Communications Technology sector as a group, has also contributed 18.44 per cent to GDP as at the second quarter of 2022.”
According to Danbatta, despite the commission’s progress, it will continue to promote new and emerging technologies to energize the nation’s economy. He described the industry as a crucial facilitator of economic activity, revolutionizing how people lived and worked while enhancing efficiency in other areas.
