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Nigeria GDP: Telecoms is the 3rd Highest Contributor

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Posted by: Guest Author on November 13, 2007 Under: Business & Technology, Discussion Lounge, Nigeria



Bill Okonedo of [the Nigerian] BusinessDay writes, “investments in Nigeria’s telecom sector have multiplied to the region of $10 billion in the last six years, growing the economy, putting bread on the table for many and then providing food for thought.” Excerpts:

Six years ago, the country had less that 500,000 telephone subscribers out of over one hundred million people. Today we have about 45 million subscribers. The MTN mobile network alone has 15 million subscribers.

Then, also, most of the available phones were analogue and all you could do with them, was make voice calls and send and receive faxes. Today, your cell phone is a bar of tricks. You can make voice calls, send text messages, play games, access ring tones, store messages and important information, access your bank account, authorise payments, browse the Internet and watch TV…

At the, macro economic level, the sector’s contribution to GDP increased by 27.8 percent from N6.7bn in 2004 to N8.6bn in 2005, making it the third highest contributor, ahead of the financial sector, which has been in operation for over 100 years. A further two percent growth in contribution has been estimated for 2006. Foreign Direct Investment of well over $8 billion has been attracted. In respect of employment, over 500,000 persons have been directly and indirectly employed by the operators and their distribution chain components while the industry’s support service sectors such as banking, insurance, consultancies (legal, accounting, HR, tax), haulage, shipping and IT, as well as the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) segment of the economy have also witnessed very significant levels of increased activity…

One key area where telecommunications especially mobile telephony will play a very central role will be in the Mobile Money Transfer Market which is expected to create revenue opportunity of almost $8bn by 2012 (from just over $10m in 2006).

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3 comment(s)

  1. Kunle | Nov 14, 2007 | Reply

    No sane individual will deny the hugely important status the telecoms industry has come to achieve in the Nigerian economy in just a few years. But rather than praise the industry in isolation, I try to observe the the entire economy as a whole and can’t but feel bothered that real sectors of the economy i.e. agriculture, manufacturing and commerce are completely comatose while service and supporting sectors like telecoms and finance seem to be growing like cancer often at the expense of real sectors.

    Oil, telecoms and finance sectors may be more attractive to foreign investors now (most likely because of the short investment recovery period) and may even provide hugely rewarding careers for few hundred thousand Nigerians, in the long term, only the real sectors hold the key to poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development. They are also the only sectors that can provide employment for scores of millions of Nigerians that currently unemployed or underemployment despite the current finance and telecoms “boom”.

  2. Kunle | Nov 14, 2007 | Reply

    Just to correct some “typo” errors!

    No sane individual will deny the hugely important status the telecoms industry has come to achieve in the Nigerian economy in just a few years. But rather than praise the industry in isolation, I try to observe the the entire economy as a whole and can’t but feel bothered that real sectors of the economy i.e. agriculture, manufacturing and commerce are completely comatose while service and supporting sectors like telecoms and finance seem to be growing like cancer often at the expense of real sectors.

    Oil, telecoms and finance sectors may be more attractive to foreign investors now (most likely because of the short investment recovery period) and may even provide hugely rewarding careers for few hundred thousand Nigerians, in the long term, only the real sectors hold the key to poverty alleviation and sustainable economic development. They are also the only sectors that can provide employment for scores of millions of Nigerians that are currently unemployed or under-employed despite the current finance and telecoms “boom”.

  3. UWUIGBE UWALOMWA | Jul 9, 2008 | Reply

    sir,
    i will appreciate if you can give me information on all the composition of nigeria GDP for 2007. and also the key contribution from each sectors,

    please give me information on the list of companies in the nigerian stock exchange market and their various sectors in nigeria.
    uwuigbe.

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