TheNewsGuru

Tag: GDP

  • How ‘cursed’ Big Brother Naija show contributes to Nigeria’s economy

    How ‘cursed’ Big Brother Naija show contributes to Nigeria’s economy

    The just-concluded fourth edition of the Big Brother Naija tagged “Pepper Dem” will be the second time the popular reality show was held in Nigeria after the 2006 edition that featured Katung, Francisca, Ify, Sandy, Frank, Joseph and Helen.

    Before now, the show had been held outside the shores of the country, and it had generated a buzz, with Nigerians, including even the government calling for the show to be held in the country, citing among other reasons, economic reasons.

    The Nigerian government weighed in with the Minister of Information and Culture directing the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to determine whether Multi-Choice, by shooting the show in South Africa, had breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way.

    This year, Nigerians were appeased when Multichoice announced that BBNaija was coming back to Nigeria.

    However, the show did not end without criticisms from different quarters, including from the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) that ‘cursed’ the show, describing it as “immoral, dangerous and Bohemian”.

    The federal government as well, while the show was on, lodged a complaint with the NBC on the live sex being exhibited during the reality show, to the extent that Mr Segun Runsewe, the Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, disclosed moves to evolve an alternate Big Brother Naija show.

    However the curses the Big Brother Naija show had received, it has bearing on the Nigerian economy, and significant impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), non-oil sector contributed 91.18 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the second quarter of 2019 as opposed to the 8.82 per cent contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector.

    The just-concluded BBNaija “Pepper Dem” show won by Mercy Eke aka Mercy de Lamborghini, may have made billions from viewers, relying mainly on votes powered by telecoms operators.

     

    The host of the show, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu revealed that over 240 million votes were cast in the course of the season, with 50 million of the votes coming in the final week.

    Although commentators on social media are suggesting the show may have raked in as much as N7.2 billion, that claim could not be independently verified.

    Based on how the BBNaija game works, viewers were asked to cast votes for their favourite housemates to keep them in the house as the housemate with the highest votes would win. The cost of voting was N30.

    The calculation being made is that going by the 240 million votes at N30 per SMS, the revenue from the show would be N7.2 billion.

    But that computation might be faulty as a lot of votes were cast online, and were free, and also owing to the fact that telecoms operators through which the votings were done will hold back a substantial percentage of the SMS fee.

    Organizers of the show did not break down the votes to reveal the numbers of votes received through SMS. However, the votes will positively affect the contribution of the ICT sector to the nation’s GDP, and the show will wash off on the broader entertainment sector.

    NBS said that the ICT sector contributed 13.85 per cent to total nominal GDP of the nation in the second quarter of 2019, surpassing the 8.82 per cent contribution of the oil sector.

    With the fact that the major focus of the show is primarily entertainment, and with its multiplier effect that resonates across industries and value chains, the gains accrued are far-flung.

    A show like Big Brother Naija requires an army of cameramen, and technicians of various stripes to get made. These crew members are quartered and catered too. Add to that the number of DJs, artists and the media who are flown in to perform and cover the event especially eviction weekend. They are lodged in hotels. The show runs for 3 months, so each week, hotels see an influx of artists and their company, media and their crew, and DJs who jam at the parties.

    This season’s BBNaija must have brought jobs to Nigerians. Starting with the building of the set – in the past, the organisers of the reality show cited the impracticality of duplicating sets as one of the reasons for hosting the show in South Africa. But with hosting the show in Nigeria, it means Nigerians must have earned some cool cash from the set building for the show.

    MultiChoice has always maintained that the production crew of the BBNaija show is 90% Nigerian. Hopefully, with the return of the show to the country, the number will peak at 100%.

    Production crews are vital to the realisation of the show. Someone has to set the camera and hidden microphones that put the housemates under constant surveillance. There is the content producer that scripts the direction of the show for each season.

    Makeup artists and costume designers will also experience a boost in business as they will be contracted to clothe the host and the housemates.

    More apparent is how BBNaija empowers its housemates through the fame they get from being on the show, giving them a springboard to launch careers in the Nigerian showbiz industry. Easy examples are Ebuka who has parlayed his Big Brother stint into a lucrative career as a television host, and Gideon Okeke who is a household name even though he is not a Nollywood staple.

    Mercy de Lamborghini, winner of the just-concluded BBNaija “Pepper Dem” show will take home N25 million in cash, a new SUV from Innoson motors, a trip to Dubai for two (possibly with Ike), Scanfrost electronic makeover, one year supply Pepsi, one year supply Munch It and Indomie, VVIPP tickets for European final. The prizes worth a total of N60 million.

     

    The Big Brother Naija “Pepper Dem” show came to a close on Sunday, with Mercy as the first lady to win in the show with 41.77 votes.

  • Nigeria’s GDP grows by 1.94% in Q2 2019 – NBS

    Nigeria’s GDP grows by 1.94% in Q2 2019 – NBS

    The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows by 1.94 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2019.

    The NBS said this in its “Nigeria GDP Report for Second Quarter 2019’’ released on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to the NBS, the figure indicates an increase of 0.44 per cent compared to a growth rate of 1.50 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2018.

    It, however, said the figure, when compared to 2.10 per cent (revised from 2.01 per cent due to oil output revisions) recorded in the first quarter of 2019, showed a decline of –0.16 per cent points.

    According to the bureau, the aggregate GDP stood at N34.79 million in nominal terms, an increase of 13.83 per cent over the performance in the second quarter of 2018 and 9.8 per cent over the preceding quarter.

    The bureau said the figure was higher than N28.43 million recorded in the first quarter of 2018, representing a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 11.80 per cent.

    “The performance observed in quarter two, 2019 follows an equally strong first quarter performance, and was likely aided by stability in oil output as well as the successful political transition,” it stated.

    It said that overall, a total of 15 activities grew faster in the second quarter 2019 relative to 2018, while 13 activities had higher growth rates relative to the preceding quarter.

    “On a half year basis, real growth in the first half of 2019 stood at 2.02 per cent, higher than in 2018 which was 1.69 per cent.

    “Quarter-on-quarter, real GDP increased by 2.85 per cent compared to a decline of –13.69 per cent in the preceding period,” it stated.

    The bureau said that for better clarity, the Nigerian economy had been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors.

    For the oil sector, the NBS said the nation posted a real growth rate of 5.15 per cent (year-on-year) in the period under review, representing a 9.10 per cent increase relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2018.

    This, it said, also indicated an increase of 6.61 per cent when compared to the first quarter of 2019, adding that quarter-on-quarter, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of –1.55 per cent in the second quarter.

    According to the report, the sector contributed 8.82 per cent to total real GDP in the second quarter of 2019, up from levels recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 but down compared to the preceding quarter.

    “In quarter two, 2019, Nigeria recorded average daily oil production of 1.98 million barrels per day (mbpd), or 7.6 per cent higher than the daily average production of 1.84 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2018.

    “This, however, is slightly less than output recorded in quarter one, 2019 (1.99 mbpd-revised from 1.96 mbpd),” it stated.

    The NBS said that the non-oil sector grew by 1.64 per cent in real terms during the reference quarter.

    It added that the growth was –0.40 per cent points lower than recorded in the same quarter of 2018, and -0.83 per cent points lower than the first quarter of 2019.

    According to the bureau, during the quarter, the sector was driven mainly by Information and Communication, Mining and Quarrying, Agriculture, Transportation and Storage and other Services.

    “In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 91.18 per cent to the nation’s GDP, lower than the share recorded in the second quarter of 2018 (91.45 per cent).

    “This however is higher than the first quarter of 2019 (90.78 per cent),” he said.

    The bureau said that Quarterly National Accounts (QNA) were an integrated system of macroeconomic accounts designed to describe the entire system of production in a nation on a quarterly basis.

    They provide a picture of the current economic status of an economy on a more frequent basis than Annual National Accounts.

    In providing a reasonable level of detailed information of the economy, QNA allows the government to regularly access analyse and monitor economic developments.

  • Post-Election: Emefiele sets policy agenda on MPC, GDP, exchange rate, unemployment

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele has set post-election agenda for the nation’s monetary policy

    According to Emefiele, the bank’s current monetary policy stance is expected to continue while inflation is estimated to rise to 12 per cent and moderate thereafter.

    The CBN governor made the projections at “BusinessDay Post-Election Economic Agenda Conference’’ on Thursday in Lagos.

    He hinged the monetary policy stance of the bank on rising inflation expectations.

    The CBN boss, however, noted that the bank would adjust the policy rate in line with unfolding conditions and outlooks.

    According to him, just as in the previous year, the bank will continue in its drive to ensure that the policy interest rate is set to balance the objectives of price stability with output stabilisation.

    While basing the inflationary projection on productivity gains in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, he said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be expected to pick up in the first half of the year.

    This, he attributed to the continued efforts at driving indigenous production in high-impact real sector activities.

    On the exchange rate policy, Emefiele said the bank in spite of expected pressures from volatility in the crude oil markets, would maintain its stable exchange rate over the next year.

    According to him, Gross stability is projected in the foreign exchange market, given increased oil production and contained import bill.

    Emefiele expressed optimism that the country’s Balance of Payments would remain positive in the short-term, adding that the current account balance could improve further if oil prices continued to recover.

    He assured that this would be “supported by improved non-oil performance as diversification efforts begin to yield results to reduce undue imports.”

    While warning that the issues that led to the economic crisis between 2015 and 2017 remained visible, Emefiele stressed the need to significantly increase the country’s policy buffers, including fiscal measure, to increase its external reserve.

    He also reiterated the need to diversify the revenue structure of the Federal Government in order to reduce dependence on direct proceeds from the sale of crude oil

    The CBN boss advised that cheap financing be provided to boost local production of priority goods in critical sectors of the economy in order to reduce reliance on foreign imports.

    Emefiele, who also used the platform to highlight the efforts made by the CBN in the past five years in monetary policy and development finance, disclosed that the weakening of the Naira impacted the balance sheets of domestic banks.

    The governor, however, said the bank took some measures such as monitoring the financial position and performance of supervised institutions and the assessment of the risk profile and governance management practices of banks to guarantee financial stability.

    He listed other efforts by CBN in ensuring financial system stability and the promotion of sustainable economic development to include the establishment of the investors and exporters’ window.

    Emefiele also identified the conservation of foreign exchange through the restriction of access to foreign exchange on 43 items, and increased lending to the agriculture and manufacturing sectors as another measure.

    The governor, while soliciting continued support of policy measures that restrict import of items that could be produced in Nigeria, expressed optimism that the economy in post-May 2019 would witness growth and reduced unemployment rate.

  • NITDA D-G tasks stakeholders on contributions of ICT to GDP

    Dr Isa Ali Pantami, Director-General of Nigerian Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a significant contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Pantami made this known during the NOTAP/NITDA Stakeholders’ Roundtable Discussion on the Use of Nigerian Software in the Financial Banking Services Sector, in Lagos on Monday.

    According to him, the GDP stands at 11. 81 per cent as at the third quarter of 2018.

    Pantami was represented by Mr Chris Okeke, Director, Lagos Zonal office of NITDA.

    He said that notably, local and foreign investors invested about N38 billion into Nigerian start-ups in the second and third quarters of 2018, of which 75 per cent of the funds went into Nigerian FinTech.

    “The growth underscored the upward trajectory of ICT as a significant contributor to Nigeria’s GDP, currently at about 11.81 per cent as at the third quarter of 2018,’’ Pantami said.

    He said that to complement these efforts, government had identified the need for concerted actions and policies to promote local contents as the core pillar of economic diversification.

    “You may recall that in 2013, NITDA issued the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT, essentially mandating agencies of government to compulsorily prioritise indigenous ICTs for procurement where available in-country.

    “The regulation mandates a compulsory consideration of indigenous hardware, software, networking service, ICT services and data management first before any non-Nigerian service provider.

    “The policy has resulted in the growth of the purchase of indigenous contents in the public sector.

    “The year 2018 recorded the highest figures of purchase of indigenously-assembled hardware and software with a total of 355,647 units sold, compared to 154,424 in the previous year.

    “Implementation of this policy has also ensured that 95 per cent of the Federal Government’s data is hosted locally,’’ Pantami said.

    He said with the issuance of the Presidential Executive Orders 003 and 005; the Nigerian Content Guidelines of NITDA received a significant boost and had strengthened the arm of the agency in implementing the guidelines.

    According to the director-general, the IT Project Clearance Process of NITDA has saved the country over N13 billion of bogus spending.

    Pantami noted that the clearance process had ensured that over N5 billion worth of software-related projects would be procured from Nigerian companies from 2018 till date.

    He said that all these would have been impossible but with the consistent and unwavering support of President Muhammadu Buhari, who had given the agency and the IT industry relentless support to implement far-reaching policies for the development of the country.

    Pantami also congratulated the financial service industry as led by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in granting spaces to young and keen minds to develop products that had continually redefined the Financial Technology Space (FinTech).

    “The growth of our FinTech market has been in no small measure due to the willingness of financial institutions to become fodder for these adventurists to step up and spin brilliant ideas that have shaped how we pay for services and conduct transactions.

    “We have come a long way and we are proud of these achievements occasioned largely by the ICT and the financial sectors working together.

    He, however, assured that all necessary solution reached at the Roundtable discussion would be relayed to the president with utmost urgency.

    Theme of the two-day roundtable was: “Adoption and Development of Local Content Technology as Growth Drivers for the Nigerian Economy’’.

  • Nigeria’s GDP increases as non-oil sector grows by 2.70% – NBS

    Nigeria’s GDP increases as non-oil sector grows by 2.70% – NBS

    The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.38 per cent in real terms year-on-year as the economy recorded positive growth in the fourth quarter of 2018.

    The bureau said the economy recorded positive growth in the non-oil sector in the quarter as the sector grew by 2.70 per cent in real terms.

    The NBS disclosed this in its “GDP Report for the Fourth and Full Year 2018’’ released on Tuesday in Abuja.

    It said the 2.38 per cent growth recorded in the quarter represented an increase of 0.27 per cent points when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, which recorded a growth rate of 2.11 per cent.

    The report also said that the figure indicated a rise of 0.55 per cent points when compared to the growth rate recorded in the third quarter of 2018.

    On a quarter on quarter basis, it said the real GDP growth was 5.31 per cent.

    In addition, it said the fourth quarter growth performance implied that real GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.93 per cent in 2018, compared to 0.82 per cent recorded in 2017, representing an increase of 1.09 per cent points.

    Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2018, the average daily oil production stood at 1.91 million barrels per day (mbpd).

    This, it said was lower than the 1.95 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2017, and 1.94 mbpd in third quarter of 2018.

    The oil sector recorded a real GDP growth rate of –1.62 per cent (year-on-year) in fourth quarter, 2018, indicating a decline of –12.81 per cent points relative to the growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2017.

    However, when compared to third quarter, 2018, growth increased by 1.29 per cent points. On an annual basis, real GDP growth for the oil sector stood at 1.14 per cent as against 4.69 per cent recorded in 2017.

    The report further said that the oil sector contributed 7.06 per cent to real GDP in the quarter under review, down from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2017 and the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.35 per cent and 9.38 per cent respectively.

    For 2018, the contribution of the oil sector to aggregate real GDP was 8.60 per cent, slightly lower when compared to 8.67 per cent in 2017.

    On the other hand, the oil sector grew by 2.70 per cent in real terms during the quarter under review.

    The figure was 1.25 per cent points higher than the growth rate recorded in fourth quarter, 2017, and 0.38 per cent points higher than the growth rate recorded in third quarter, 2018.

    On an annual basis, the non-oil sector recorded a growth rate of 2.00 per cent in 2018, performing considerably better than 0.47 per cent seen in 2017.

    The key performing activities during the quarter were Information and communication, Transportation and Storage, Arts and Entertainment and Agriculture as well as Manufacturing.

    The report further said that the Non-Oil sector contributed 92.94 per cent to real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018, slightly higher than the 92.65 per cent seen in the fourth, 2017.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Quarterly National Accounts (QNA) are integrated system of macroeconomic accounts designed to describe the entire system of production in a nation on a quarterly basis.

    They provide a picture of the current economic status of the economy that is more timely and frequent than that provided by Annual National Accounts (ANA).

    QNA adopts the same concepts, definitions and structure as ANA while in principle QNA covers the entire sequence of accounts and balance sheets as reflected in the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA).

    Data for this analysis were obtained from the Quarterly Establishment Survey (QES) conducted by NBS.

    This series covers major aggregates of quarterly GDP by kind of economic activities at current and constant (2010) prices.

  • Nigeria’s GDP grows by 2.38 per cent in Q4 2018 – NBS

    Nigeria’s GDP grows by 2.38 per cent in Q4 2018 – NBS

    Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) grew by 2.38 percent in the fourth quarters of 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, reports.

    According to the NBS, the GDP grew by 2.38% in real terms (year-on-year), which represented an increase of 0.27% points when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017 which recorded a growth rate of 2.11%.

    It also indicates a rise of 0.55% points when compared with the growth rate recorded in third quarters of 2018.

    The NBS said on a quarter on quarter basis, real GDP growth was 5.31%, while the fourth quarter growth performance implied that real GDP grew at an annual growth rate of 1.93% in 2018, compared to 0.82% recorded in 2017, an increase of 1.09% points.

    “During the quarter, aggregate nominal GDP stood at N35,230,607.63, which is higher than N31,275,354.08 recorded in fourth quarter of 2017, a nominal growth rate of 12.65%.

    “For 2018, nominal GDP was therefore recorded at N127,762,545.58 representing a nominal growth rate of 12.36% when compared to N113,711,634.61 recorded in 2017,” it said.

  • Digital ID could lift Nigeria’s GDP by up to 13%

    Extending full digital ID coverage could unlock economic value equivalent to 3 to 13 percent of GDP in 2030, a study has suggested.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the study, conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), focused on seven diverse economies: Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

    The study found that “Digital ID is a foundational set of enabling technologies that can be pivotal in a wide range of digital interactions between individuals and institutions.

    “Digital ID technologies are also akin to “dual use” technologies that can be employed both to benefit society and for undesirable purposes by governments and other institutions, as well as individual actors.

    “Our research focuses on how “good” use of digital ID can create value and societal benefit, while being clear-eyed about the possibility of misuse and associated risks and challenges, and the need to mitigate them.

    “Digital ID enables individuals to unlock value and benefit as they interact with firms, governments, and other individuals in six roles: as consumers, workers, microenterprises, taxpayers and beneficiaries, civically engaged individuals, and owners. Individuals benefit most as consumers from wider access to services, and as taxpayers and beneficiaries from time saved interacting with government.

    “For example, digital ID could contribute to providing access to financial services for the 1.7 billion-plus individuals who are currently financially excluded, according to the World Bank ID4D Findex survey, and could help save about 110 billion hours through streamlined e-government services, including social protection and direct benefit transfers.

    “For institutions, gains could come from higher productivity, cost savings, and fraud reduction; for example, improving customer registration could reduce onboarding costs by up to 90 percent, and reducing payroll fraud could save up to $1.6 trillion globally.

    “In our seven focus countries, extending full digital ID coverage could unlock economic value equivalent to 3 to 13 percent of GDP in 2030 – if the digital ID program enables multiple high-value use cases and attains high levels of usage.

    “The potential varies by country based on the portion of the economy with bottlenecks that digital ID can address as well as the scope for improvement in formalization, inclusion, and digitization over current levels.

    “Our estimates include the full value from use cases of digital ID, assuming high levels of adoption by 2030, the necessary digital infrastructure and ecosystems to enable usage, and complementary investments required”.

    According to the study, “For emerging economies, while the share of the economy that digital ID can address tends to be modest, scope for improvement can be sizable, leading to average potential per-country benefit of roughly 6 percent of GDP in 2030, based on our modeling. Much of this value can be captured through digital ID with authentication alone.

    “For mature economies, many processes are already digital, so the potential for improvement is more limited and largely requires digital ID programs that enable additional data-sharing features. Average per-country benefit of 3 percent could be possible, assuming high usage rates”.

    The right digital ID technology, designed with the right principles and enforced with the right policies, can protect individuals from the risk of abuse and enable the safe inclusion of billions in the digital economy.

    As the landscape evolves, more work will be needed to understand the opportunities and commensurate challenges and to comprehend how stakeholders can respond.

     

  • NCC puts initiatives in place to fast-track internet access

    To facilitate broadband penetration in the country and in a quest to bridge the digital divide, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has put in place initiatives to fast-track internet access in the country.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, while stressing the Commission has taken services to several unserved and underserved areas in the country, stated this while speaking with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.

    He said NCC had issued license to seven infrastructure companies to deploy the needed infrastructure to facilitate the required penetration in the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country.

    The InfraCos licenced by the NCC are Raeanna Nigeria Ltd for South South, O’odua Infraco Resources Ltd for South West (excluding Lagos), Fleek Networks Ltd for North West, Brinks Integrated Solutions for North East, Main One Ltd for Lagos zone and Zinox Technologies Ltd for Southeast.

    “While we celebrate the seeming story recorded in these directions, the NCC has put incentive for infrastructure companies (Infracos) in order to encourage speedy deployment of infrastructure that will deepen broadband penetration.

    “In line with our initiatives to encourage investors for infracos to roll out, NCC created provisions in its 2017 & 2018 budgets for subsidies to the infracos.

    “The Government through the NCC has launched the open Access Model Broadband Deployment. As a prelude to the above, 2.3GHz was issued to Bitflux Consortium; 6 of the 14 slots available on 2.6GHz to MTN Nigeria and 2 slots to openskys. Six slots are still available for assignment,” Danbatta stated.

    As regards Quality of Service, the NCC EVC said the Commission had engaged critical stakeholders to resolve multiple taxations, multiple regulations and indiscriminate shutting down of live base stations.

    “To Optimize Usage and Benefits of Spectrum, The commission has introduced spectrum trading. The NCC has also licensed quite a number of internationally harmonized wireless frequencies and encouraged re-farming of various others to improve capacity.

    “To promote ICT innovation and investment opportunities, the NCC approves grants to facilitate research in areas of need within the industry. NCC has also encouraged telecoms operators to embark on corporate social responsibility initiatives that drive local content development.

    “In Facilitating Strategic Collaboration and Partnership, NCC has hosted Stakeholders Consultations on National Roaming, Industry Working group on short code. NCC has also signed MoUs with agencies like NESREA, CPC, NITDA, CBN, Nigeria Police etc

    “To Protect and Empower Consumers, NCC Engages Consumers through various outreach – Consumer Parliament, Consumer Outreach Programme and Consumer Town Hall Meeting. NCC also declared 2017 the year of the Consumer to underscore the importance it attaches to the consumers.

    “In Promoting Fair Competition and Inclusive Growth, Regulation of VAS and its Framework, Determination of cost based pricing for fixed transmission services in Nigeria and Market Dominance Determinations has been done by NCC.

    “To Ensure Regulatory Excellence NCC has intensified Compliance Monitoring exercises, Promotion of Corporate Governance Code,” the NCC boss stated.

    TNG reports NCC had been acknowledged as one of the foremost telecoms regulator in Africa by ITU.

    The Nigerian telecommunication contributed 10.43% to the GDP in the second quarter of 2018.

    Statistics shows that for every 10% increase in broadband penetration, there is corresponding 1.3% increase in GDP of a nation.

    The country recently achieved broadband penetration of 30.9 per cent in November 2018 surpassing the 30 per cent target by the National Broad Band Plan.

     

  • World Bank projects ‘below 2 per cent GDP growth’ for Nigeria in 2018

    The World Bank in its latest report released on Wednesday has projected a slow growth in Nigeria’s economy in 2018.

    According to the report on Nigeria’s bi-annual Economic Update on Wednesday, the country’s Gross Domestic Product growth is expected to hover slightly below two per cent in 2018, largely driven by non-oil industry and services.

    In the report, it also stated that Nigeria’s investment in human capital compared to other nations remained very low.

    Titled ‘Investing in Human Capital for Nigeria’s Future’, the report noted that, Nigeria, like many other countries, had underinvested in human capital, which was quite low compared to other countries, though it did not provide any statistics.

    In recognition that bold actions are required to address years of underinvestment in human capital, the government of Nigeria has established a Human Capital Working Group to develop a unified vision for human capital development and drive implementation of interventions within the ‘Investing in our People’ pillar of the Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the bank said.

    The statement quoted World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Rachid Benmessaoud, to have said, “The World Bank welcomed the Government of Nigeria’s recent ‘Call for Action’, requesting all stakeholders to join the Government’s effort to address Nigeria’s alarming human capital outcomes.

    “As a member of the Human Capital Working Group, the World Bank stands ready to support the Government of Nigeria in its bold steps to improve the lives of its citizens.”

    The bank said that Nigeria’s emergence from recession remained sluggish, adding that sectoral growth patterns were unstable.

    “In the second quarter of 2018, the oil sector contracted by four per cent, the usually-resilient agricultural growth slowed significantly to 1.2 per cent, impacted by the security challenges in the Northeast and Middle Belt regions,” the World Bank said.

    “The non-oil industry and services, which constitute over half of Nigeria’s economy, picked-up to 3.1 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively, driven by growth in construction, transport, and ICT.”

    The Update reported that the Nigerian economy remained dependent on the small oil sector (under 10 per cent of GDP) for the bulk of its fiscal revenues and foreign exchange earnings.

    The statement said, “Although oil revenues are increasing with recovering oil prices in 2018, distributions from oil revenues to the three tiers of government are constrained by the petrol subsidy and other prior deductions.

    “In the first half of 2018, the current account surplus surpassed four per cent of GDP, driven largely by higher oil exports, while non-oil revenue collections have come in lower than envisaged.

    “Despite sustained efforts to improve the business environment, Foreign Direct Investment inflows remain stagnated.”

    According to the Update, the fiscal deficit will likely widen in 2018 due to increased spending and sustained revenue shortfalls.

    It added that the current account balance was expected to remain positive, benefitting from the rising value of oil exports and limited growth of non-oil imports.

    The capital account faces significant uncertainty, as external portfolio investors may exercise further caution, especially during the pre-election period, despite rising domestic yields, it added.

    Given the clearly challenging economic backdrop, the Update suggested certain key policy reforms would be important to support macroeconomic resilience for Nigeria.

    These include, among others, the acceleration of the economic diversification agenda, the reform of petrol subsidy regime to improve the fiscal space, improvements in the domestic revenue (particularly non-oil) to reduce volatilities in government revenues and increased investment in human capital for a truly sustainable growth.

     

  • GDP report: We stood our ground to resist Govt. interference – NBS Boss

    Statistician General of the Federation on Thursday said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stood its ground to ensure there were no interferences from any government entity in the production process of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) report released recently.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the NBS Boss, Dr. Yemi Kale stated this in a Business Insider live Twitter session where he talked about “Nigeria’s Fragile Economy” and said NBS under his watch has remained apolitical and independent of any kind of interference.

    “Interference in the data production process cannot be allowed for any reason at all. NBS, under my watch, has remained apolitical and independent of any kind of interference.

    As I’ve always said, I would rather quit the job than allow such interference under my watch,” he said.

    He said the bureau has managed to ward of government inferences by sticking to ethos of statistical production and remaining professional in conduct and engagement with the political class

    “All our staff, whether across the states or in the HQ in Abuja know this, and are fully aware of the consequences, so they don’t even try or entertain it,” the NBS Boss stated.

    He went further to say, “One can understand that some people will feel that their sector performance isn’t been reported fairly etc, and as a result, they want to interfere with the data production process”.

    “But we have always stood our ground to resist any such interference because if people trust the data, nothing else matters. And if they don’t trust the data, nothing else matters. In other words, data integrity is paramount”.

    He added that “Once we start playing politics with the numbers, it’s a very slippery slope. And importantly, we also have reporting obligations to several international institutions that ensure that our data processes and methodologies etc are in line with international guidelines”.