Dambatta congratulates Business Journal, says Nigeria's economic growth possible through infrastructure

Success Damian:

Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has congratulated Business Journal on its tenth anniversary, even as he said that economic development of Nigeria could only be facilitated and accelerated by the presence of infrastructure.

Dambatta stated this during the Business Journal 10th Anniversary Lecture and Award which took place at Sheraton, Ikeja.

The theme of the event was 'Infrastructure and Economic Growth: Exploring the Strategic Alliance'.

Represented by Mr. Edoyemi Ogo, Assistant Director (Technical Standards) NCC, Dambatta said that telecommunication was an infrastructure industry that contributes to all economic growth drivers in one way or the other.

He said that the liberalisation and deregulation in the telecom sector placed Nigeria in a position to increase the contribution of the industry to overall GDP.

"With the advancement in telecommunication technology, the world has experienced a rapid growth in communications.

"Telecommunication sector development has acted as a catalyst to drive growth and efficiencies in many other sectors.

"Telecommunication infrastructure has a direct and indirect positive effect on economic growth.

"This effect can be seen in the economic growth indicators which include real GDP, Industrial production, employment, price stability, education, technology and innovation, "Danbatta said.

He added that the World Bank had found out that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration in developing countries results in a commensurable increase of 1.38 percent in GDP.

Danbatta also said that the telecom sector contribution to Nigerian GDP had increased from less than 1 per cent in 2001 to about 8.66 percent in December 2017.

Also speaking at the event, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, who doubled as Chairman of Open Media Group as well as Chairman of the occasion said “Infrastructure remains our biggest problem in Africa. Power was very critical to the development of the telecommunication industry and therefore urged the government to build enough infrastructures for electrical power.

"Many small scale industries would have done very well but because of inadequate power supply, most of them are dead.

"We as a nation cannot develop without infrastructures, it is needed so that we can grow our economy,” Ndukwe said.