The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the coordinating agency for Nigeria’s national statistical system, has reported that the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector contributed 16.20% to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2022.
The ICT sector covers activities in four sub-sectors, namely Telecommunications and Information Services; Publishing; Motion Picture, Sound Recording and Music Production; and Broadcasting.
According to the Bureau, the sector’s Q1 2022 contribution is 1.29 points higher than the 14.91% contribution made by the sector to the economy in the corresponding quarter of 2021 and also 0.99 points higher than the sector’s contribution in Q4 2021.
Specifically, the agency reported that the ICT sector in the first quarter under review recorded 12.07% growth rate in real terms year-on-year, representing an increase of 5.60% points, adding that on quarter-on-quarter, the sector recorded a growth of -9.09% in real terms.
Based on the NBS’ data, the ICT sector outperformed the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
The agency indicated the agricultural sector achieved a 3.16% growth (year-on-year) in real terms during the quarter in review, representing 0.88% points increase over the corresponding quarter’s performance 2021 but a decrease of 0.42% points from the 3.58% output in Q4 2021.
On the performance of the manufacturing sector in Q1 2022, the NBS reported that the sector recorded real GDP growth of 5.89% (year-on-year), representing 2.49% points increased output over the corresponding quarter of 2021 and 3.61% points over Q4 2021 performance.
Meanwhile, the Bureau reported that Nigeria’s GDP grew by 3.11 per cent (year-on-year) in the quarter under review, indicating the sixth consecutive quarter of positive growth by the Nigerian economy.
According to the agency, the Q1 2022 growth rate in real terms was higher than the 0.51 percent growth rate recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 by 2.60 percent points and lower than 3.98 per cent recorded in Q4 2021 by 0.88 percent points.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the nation’s real GDP contracted by 14.66 percent in Q1 2022 compared to Q4 2021, reflecting a lower economic activity than the preceding quarter.
