The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said that the telecommunications industry in Nigeria contributes 10 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which makes it second only to the oil and gas industry.
This was revealed by its Executive Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who said on Thursday that the telecoms industry had contributed N500 billion to the Federation Account in the last 10 years, mostly in form of taxes, and had created 2.5 million jobs directly and indirectly within the same period.
The NCC boss disclosed these in Abuja when the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
He also said that the industry had attracted over $40 billion of direct foreign investment into the country since 2003.
However, he lamented the poor state of infrastructure in the country, which has made broadband penetration in the country difficult.
According to him, Nigeria’s mobile money service penetration is pegged at 1 percent, compared to Kenya’s which is at 59 percent.
Led by its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON reiterated its call on the Federal Government to relax its fiscal policy regarding foreign exchange, saying that the hard stance was affecting the industry negatively.
The association also lamented the issue of multiple taxation, claiming that its members pay about 14 percent tax on their earnings to government, which is hindering broadband penetration, and equally decried the arbitrary closure of its cell sites, which costs its members millions of dollars and affects the quality of telecoms services.
In the same vein, the association advocated the sponsoring of a critical economic, infrastructure and security bill to the National Assembly to tackle the issue of infrastructural deficit in the country at large and in the telecoms industry in particular.