It is Nigeria’s 62 Independence celebration. The nation’s Information and Communication Technology, though still budding, has expanded. Over the past ten years, ICT has maintained steady growth and a major boost to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The ICT’s contribution to the GDP of the country has maintained a steady growth rate between 2012 and 2022.
The ICT sector in the country has played a huge role in developing the Nation’s coffers.
Just recently, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it remitted N463 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund from 2015 to April 2022 through steady efforts. This means, for the third consecutive time, between 2021 and 2022 ICT has floored the oil sector in boosting the GDP.
Reports from the National Bureau of Statistics NBS, say the oil sector contributed only 6.63% in Q1 2022 and 6.33 per cent to the total real GDP in Q2 2022, while ICT’s unprecedented contribution pushed the non-oil sector to contribute 93.67 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the Q2 2022. In Q2 2021 and Q1 2022, the non-oil sector led by ICT also contributed 92.58 per cent and 93.37 per cent respectively
Led by the Executive Vice chairman of the commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the NCC has commenced the process of reviewing five regulatory instruments developed to address the challenges of the telecommunications industry even as it reiterated the increase in broadband penetration in the country.
The commission has issued landing permits to 53 Geo Satellite Orbits space stations and 923 non-GSO space stations among other achievements of the commission. Through the concerted efforts of the commission, starting from the time Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM debuted in Nigeria in 2001, the innovative use of ICT has opened unprecedented doors of opportunity for the average Nigerian to become an active participant in the global village.
With ICT, businesses have expanded their frontiers through the internet, making for a more buoyant economy.
The 3G and 4G Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the country has increased from less than 30,000 in 205 to 53, 460 while 7VSAT gateway earth stations have been licensed to boost broadband penetration in the country.
The Commission has achieved a lot, and it’s still making efforts to address all the challenges confronting the industry. The Commission has key focus and targets through its launched Strategic Vision (Implementation) Plan SVP 2021 – 2025. This took into consideration the provisions of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy 2020-2030, and National Broadband Plan 2020-2025.
Beyond its numerous economic benefits, ICT, has also been instrumental to the development of nearly every sector. Even in social activism, ICT has revolutionised participation.
The NCC boss, at an interactive session listed successes recorded since 2015 in teledensity, broadband penetration, and significant contribution of the industry to the GDP that grew from 8.5 per cent in the 4th quarter of 2015 to 12.61 in the 4th quarter of 2021, as the sector also attracted over $2 billion in foreign direct investment over the period.The NCC chief executive listed some other key achievements of the Commission under him to include the recent successful auction of 3.5GHz spectrum for 5G, licensing of 7 fibre optics infrastructure providers, and adding up to 38, 296 kilometers of fibre optic in the country.
He noted that access gap clusters in the country have been reduced from 217 to 114 to enable 15 million Nigerians to have access to telecommunications services, and an increase of fibre optics deployments from 47,000 kilometers to 54, 725 kilometers.
The leadership of the NCC must be commended for remarkable strides of the agency that has earned remarkable international reputation for Nigeria and placed the telecom regulator in the forefront of the nation’s quest for forward looking national economic growth.
So far so good. The entire country, and beyond, is fully aware of the strategic importance of the NCC as a regulating institution of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria. And, of course, citizens are aware today that between oil and communications, the latter is gradually taking over in the provision of revenue for the country as the nation strives to diversify the economy.
Of a truth, the quality of service has improved tremendously over the past few years now and the Commission deserves a pat on the back for what it has done in that direction.
As Nigeria marks its Independence , we urge the leadership of the Commission to continue the good work and also strive to bridge the infrastructural gap that may create a gap between the served and underserved communities in the country.
Olamide Adeniji is a member of the editorial team of TheScript Newspapers