The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has declared that Nigeria recorded $75.6 billion investment the the nation’s telecommunications sector, in 2021 inclusive of foreign direct investment (FDI) and local investment.
Danbatta revealed this figure during an interactive session with stakeholders in the communications media ecosystem, in Lagos on Wednesday where he provided his scorecards and landmark developments that have shaped the growth in telecoms sector since he became the chief telecom regulator in August 2015.
The NCC EVC stated that in 2018, the nation’s Telecom investment profile in the sector stood at $68 billion. “This increased to $70.5 billion in 2019 and $72 billion in 2020. At the end of 2021, the figure rose to $75,560,563,417.79 ($75.6 billion).”
The latest figure is the current official investment profile computed in the industry, up from the initial $70 billion investment in the last few years, he noted.
NCC reveals that Investment in the telecommunications sector in Nigeria is computed from two sources: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the financial data obtained from service providers by the Commission.
The CBN collects and calculates an element of the telecoms sector to include FDI, portfolio and others, the Commission collects investment figures from telecom licensees described as domestic investment arising from capital expenditure (CAPEX) which form part of the total investment in the industry.
The NCC Chief explained that through the Commission’s effective regulatory environment, the telecoms have recorded tremendous growth from an initial investment profile of $500 million as at 2001 when the sector was fully liberalized.
Speaking on the role of the Commission in the nation’s development, Danbatta said the telecom sector has continued to be a major contributor to the Nigeria’s economy through an impressive sectoral contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) quarterly, up from about 8.5 percent in third quarter of 2015, contributing N10.126 trillion to the nation’s GDP in 2022 alone.
Danbata said that data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows the telecoms sector contributed N10.126 trillion as an aggregate quarterly contribution to GDP in 2022.
“In the first quarter, the sector contributed 12.94 percent equivalent to N2.246 trillion while the second quarter witnessed an all-time high GDP contribution by the telecom sector to the nation’s economy, standing at 15 percent and valued at N2.593 trillion. The sector’s contribution to GDP in the third was 12.85 percent and in the fourth quarter, it grew to 13.55 percent, which are valued at N2.436 trillion and N2.851 trillion respectively.”
The growth trajectory continued this year as telecommunications and Information Services sector in Nigeria delivered a handsome N2. 508 trillion in terms of financial value contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product, GDP, representing 14.13% in the first quarter 2023,” he said.
Overall, Danbatta said the sector has become a major enabler of economic development in Nigeria, as it continues to positively impact all the facets of the Nigerian economy. “As the regulatory authority for the telecom sector in Nigeria, we are happy that the sector has recorded phenomenal growth statistics in the past two decades of the liberalization of the telecoms sector.
However, we will not rest on our oars. We will continue to push upward to greater heights by encouraging expansion of frontiers to put Nigeria’s imprint on the global map of digital economy,” he said.
