Digital economy and mobile broadband are growing at a speed that was never envisaged in Nigeria before now. This was the submission of the Minister of Communications yesterday in Abuja while delivering his Keynote address at the 2016 ISACA conference.
While revealing that “There are about 100 million regular Internet users in Nigeria, and we have a teledensity that exceeds 100%,” he noted that “ A National Broadband Policy is also in place to ensure that broadband is available in every part of the country. The plan projects an increase in the broadband penetration from 6% to 18% by the year 2018”.
He said the World Bank has discovered that the developmental impact of broadband on emerging economies is greater than for high-income countries, which “enjoyed a 1.21 percentage point increase in per capita GDP growth” per 10 percent increase in broadband penetration.
The Minister noted further that “with Nigeria’s projected 2017 GDP estimate of US$657 billion, a 1.38% GDP growth is equivalent to $8.6 billion (N309.6 Billion)”.
He also said that “the broadband penetration level is now up to 14% from 10% in 2014, signifying a growing trend in much-needed communications infrastructure”.
“Government plans to unlock the potentials of local solutions and unplug the low hanging technology fruits, to make Nigeria a better IT capable country in the knowledge society by constantly retooling the curriculums in tertiary institutions.
