THE Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Garba Danbatta, has announced that the investment profile in the nation’s telecommunications sector has reached $75.6 billion as of 2021.
The figure comprised foreign direct (FDI) and local investments.
Danbatta disclosed this at an interactive session with stakeholders in the communications media ecosystem in Lagos on July 5, where he provided his scorecard covering the period he became the chief telecoms regulator in August 2015 till this year.
According to him, the investment profile in the sector in 2018 stood at $68 billion. The figure increased to $70.5 billion in 2019, and $72 billion in 2020. By the end of 2021, the figure had risen 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.
The ICIR reports that investments in the telecommunications sector in Nigeria is computed from two sources: the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the financial data the Commission obtains from service providers.
While 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.
Danbatta said that through effective regulatory environment put in place by the Commission, the telecom sector had recorded tremendous growth from an initial investment profile of $500 million as at 2001, when the sector was fully liberalised.
He added that the telecom sector had continued to be a major contributor to Nigeria’s economy through an impressive sectoral contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), up from about 8.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2015, contributing N10.126 trillion to the nation’s GDP in 2022 alone.
Citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Danbatta said the telecoms sector contributed N10.126 trillion as an aggregate quarterly contribution to the GDP in 2022.
“In the first quarter, the sector contributed 12.94 per cent equivalent to N2.246 trillion, while the second quarter witnessed an all-time high GDP contribution by the telecoms sector to the nation’s economy, standing at 15 per cent and valued at N2.593 trillion. The sector’s contribution to the GDP in the third quarter was 12.85 per cent, and in the fourth quarter, it grew to 13.55 per cent, which are valued at N2.436 trillion and N2.851 trillion, respectively.
“The growth trajectory continued this year as telecommunications and the information services sector in Nigeria delivered a handsome N2.508 trillion in terms of financial value contribution to the nation’s GDP, representing 14.13 per cent in the first quarter 2023,” he said.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.