Nigeria’s Information and Communication Technology sector recorded a 5.42 per cent growth in real terms in 2024, marking its slowest expansion in two years, the National Bureau of Statistics report showed.
The figure represents a decline from the 7.91 per cent growth posted in 2023 and 9.76 per cent in 2022, reflecting the sector’s struggle amid broader economic challenges.
Despite the slowdown, the ICT sector remained a key driver of Nigeria’s economy, contributing 17.68 per cent to the country’s real GDP in 2024—higher than the 17.34 per cent recorded in 2023.
The rise in GDP contribution indicates that while the ICT sector’s own growth is slowing, other sectors of the economy are performing even worse, making ICT more significant in the overall GDP structure.
“Overall, the sector grew by 5.42 per cent in 2024, lower than the 7.91 per cent recorded in 2023. Of total real GDP, the sector contributed 17.00 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, higher than in the same quarter of the previous year, in which it represented 16.66 per cent and higher than the preceding quarter, in which it represented 16.35 per cent. The annual contribution of 17.68 per cent was recorded in 2024 from 17.34 per cent in 2023,” the report stated.
The sector’s performance in the fourth quarter of 2024 showed a 5.90 per cent year-on-year growth in real terms, down by 0.42 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, it posted a 16.81 per cent growth, indicating an improvement over the previous quarter.
In nominal terms, which measures the sector’s growth without adjusting for inflation, the ICT sector grew by 12.88 per cent in 2024—a sharp drop from the 40.79 per cent recorded in 2023.
The NBS report showed that the ICT sector contributed 12.48 per cent to Nigeria’s nominal GDP in 2024, lower than the 12.95 per cent recorded in 2023.