Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), Minister of Communications and Digital Economy has directed Council members on proper monitoring policies on National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) which achievement in two years has placed Nigeria’s Economy amongst the fastest growing in the world.
Pantami gave the directive at the closing ceremony of the 9th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Communications and Digital Economy (NCCDE) with the theme, ‘Utilizing Digital Technology To Accelerate Economic Recovery In A COVID 19 Era And Beyond’ held in Abuja.
The minister quoting from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report, said in the last second quarters (Q2) of 2020, ICT was the fastest growing sector, stressing that the growth rate of ICT sector in 2020 was more than four times the performance of the second most performing sector of the nation’s economy.
He stated that the 14.7 percent growth rate of the ICT sector was greater than the combined 14.21 percent growth of the 2nd to 7th fastest growing sectors in Nigeria in 2020, while the Telecommunications sector also recorded a growth rate of 15.90 percent, representing its highest growth rate in the last 10 years.
“National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the Q1 2021 report and the ICT sector retained its position as the fastest growing sector of the economy, thereby contributing 14.91 percent, also in the Q2 of 2021 ICT contributed an Unprecedented 17.90 percent to the nation’s GDP”, the minister said.
The minister hinted that another milestone recorded by the sector in 2021, was how Startups in Nigeria raised 1.37 billion US Dollars, followed by South Africa and Egypt with 800 billion and 500 billion respectively.
The Minister therefore charged the Council members to ensure effective implementation of the policies in their respective states as contained in the policy document to further grow the nation’s Digital Economy sector.
NDEPS is made up of eight Pillars to create an enabling environment for the promotion of digital jobs across the country.
Oyo state was announced as the overall winner in the implementation of the development pillars of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS).
Winners were presented with medals for their outstanding performance by the heads of various Parastatals under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy such as Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Kashifu Inuwa; Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone, Professor Muhammad Bello; Managing Director, NigComSat, Ms Abimbola Alale, and representative of the Executive Vice President, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC.
Commissioners of Science and Technology from the 36 states of the federation and those from the FCT were in attendance at the occasion.