Nigeria flexes IT muscle at ITU event
Nigeria flexes IT muscle at ITU event
Nigeria's Minister of Communication Technology Omobola Johnson is said to have presented a strong case for investment in the West African country at the ITU Telecom World 2014, held recently in Doha.
Vanguard has published a report which referred to the Minister's participation at the event and her positioning of the country as a viable investment destination for operators, despite challenges.
The Minister addressed delegates and emphasised the country's core strengths including its population, an active telephone line connectivity of over 134 million and a teledensity of 96%.
According to the Nigerian delegation attending the international telecommunications event the country is one of the top three destinations for foreign direct investment on the continent, writes the Vanguard.
The executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Dr Eugene Juwah is said to have emphasised the country's growth in subscriber numbers and the national broadband deployment implementation plan.
The publication added that one of the objectives of Nigeria's National Broadband Plan is to increase the broadband penetration rate from its current level of 6% to 30% by 2018.
Johnson has been quoted by the publication as saying, "The ICT industry has significant enabling effect on other sector the economy, contributing a combined 2.56% of added value... Investment opportunities are huge as a result of accelerated roll out of robust, reliable and cost-effective ICT infrastructure to increase citizen access to ICT."
Nigeria's communications ministry is reported to have said recently that the country's ICT sector could eclipse the petroleum sector as the highest revenue earner by 2020.