Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has continued to drive the nation’s economic performance, contributing 10.59% to the country’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2025. This performance significantly boosted the country’s overall GDP growth of 3.13% during the same period, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The ICT sector recorded a robust real growth rate of 7.40% in Q1 2025, outperforming other key sectors such as agriculture, which posted a mere 0.07% growth, and the industrial sector, which grew by 3.42%. This highlights the increasing role of ICT in Nigeria’s economic resilience, especially in a period of global and domestic challenges.
Telecommunications and Information Services remain the dominant drivers within the ICT sector, supported by growing data consumption, the expansion of mobile financial services, and rapid enterprise digitalisation. These advancements are helping the country to diversify its economic base away from traditionally volatile sectors like oil and agriculture.
The NBS report outlines the broad scope of the ICT sector, which includes telecommunications, publishing, broadcasting, motion pictures, and music production. Year-on-year, the sector’s growth jumped from 3.36% in Q1 2024 to 7.40% in Q1 2025. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the ICT sector experienced a decline of -8.86%, indicating some short-term fluctuations
Despite this quarterly dip, the sector’s annual performance reflects strong upward momentum, with its share of real GDP rising from 10.17% in Q1 2024 and 9.32% in Q4 2024 to 10.59% in Q1 2025. This growth reinforces ICT’s position as a key pillar in Nigeria’s economic transformation and signals a promising future for the country’s digital economy.
Source: Business day