Isa Ali Pantam, minister of communication and digital economy, says the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is boosting Nigeria’s digital economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Minister said this on Friday during the inauguration of the North-East Regional Office of Galaxy Backbone in Gombe.
Pantam stated that the contributions of ICT to GDP, having the centre in the region would help consolidate the gains of the digital economy.
“For many years, most probably 50 years, Nigeria relied so much on oil and gas. But today, we have reached a situation where the contribution of ICT to our gross domestic products (GDP) in Nigeria is almost three times the contribution of oil and gas to the country’s GDP,” he said.
“In the last three years, we have set up three unprecedented records with regards to ICT contributions to GDP.”
The Minister said ICT contributed 14.07 percent to the GDP in the first quarter of 2020 and 17.97 percent in the second quarter of 2021.
He included that the ICT sector contributed 18.44 percent to the GDP in the second quarter of 2022 and described the contribution as an “unprecedented record”.
Speaking earlier, Muhammad Abubakar, the managing director of Galaxy Backbone Limited, said that Galaxy remains committed to connecting all the 36 states of Nigeria into ICT infrastructure to power the nation’s digital economy.
He added that the zonal and marketing office in Gombe also houses the infrastructure that will form a seed for the state to function as a smart city.
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