In the next five years, Nigeria will be spending about $167 billion in the ICT industry if the adoption of ICT tools will keep increasing; as it is as well as increasing in public participation in the sector.
Nigeria’s minister of Communication Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson, said that consumer spending in 2010 was $115bn and is projected to increase to $167bn by 2020. She noted that increasing middle class, increasing levels of disposable income and increasing levels of aspiration have spurred the growth of e-commerce in the country.
The minister added that wholesale and retail trade sectors account for 20 percent of GDP in 2012 making it the second largest contributor after agriculture.
“Young population – an average of 50 percent of the adult population is under the age of 33 years. Low (formal) salary levels mask informal/other sources of income – about 43 percent of adult population earn incomes in the range of N18,000 to N70,000,” she said.
The minister who said that high usage of mobile phones, particularly for social purposes, increases opportunities in “culture” markets – such as music, books and films – that are shaped by social influences, added that the ICT industry has significant enabling effect on other sectors of the economy contributing a combined 2.56 percent of added value. This is apart from direct contribution of 10.44 percent to 2013 GDP.
While the services sector as a whole constitutes over half of Nigeria’s GDP, ICT services contributed 19 percent to the services sector. Nigeria is ensuring accelerated roll-out of robust, reliable, and cost effective ICT infrastructure to increase citizen access to ICTs. Market indicators shows that there are four undersea fibre-optic cables with combined design capacity approx. 10 terrabits per second.
