Information and communications technology (ICT)-related activities contributed 19.78 per cent to Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q2 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed.
NBS, in its Q2 2024 GDP statistics, stated that this figure represents a marginal increase in contribution when compared to the 19.54 per cent recorded in the same period last year.
NBS stated that, the four industries that make up the ICT sector are publishing; motion picture, sound recording, and music production; broadcasting; and telecommunications and information services.
When compared to the previous quarter, the sector’s contribution increased from quarter to quarter as well. According to NBS data, ICT accounted for 17.89 per cent of the real GDP in Q1 2024.
The growth is attributed to a great deal of activity, driven by the telecom sector, which is dominated by Internet service providers (ISPs), mobile network operators (MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile), and other mobile network operators.
The closest sub-sector to telecoms in the ICT sector in terms of contribution was Broadcasting, which added 2.54 per cent. According to NBS, third only to the trade and agricultural sectors, which contributed 16.39 per cent and 20.35 per cent of the real GDP, respectively, was the telecom sector in Q2 2024.
The NBS statistics also showed that, in the second quarter of 2024, the ICT sector contributed 14.19 per cent to the total Nominal GDP, which was higher than the 13.12 per cent it contributed in the previous quarter and less than the 14.83 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2023.
Nominally speaking, the sector growth was reported at 11.86 per cent (year over year), down 29.81 per cent from the rate of 41.67 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2023 and 2.08 per cent from the rate reported in the previous quarter.
