By Prince Osuagwu

ABUJA—Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has said the telecoms sector contributed N1.549 trillion to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, in the second quarter of 2017.

According to him, this represents 6.68 per cent increase from the first quarter of the year (N1.452 trillion).

Speaking while receiving the chairperson of Liberia Telecommunications Authority, LTA, Madam Angelique Weeks, who paid him a courtesy visit, yesterday, in Abuja, Danbatta said the figures were derived from recently released report of National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, on the economy.

“The NBS’s report has confirmed that the telecommunications sector, during the second quarter of 2017, contributed 9.5 per cent to the GDP in contrast to 9.1 per cent contribution in the first quarter of the year.

“We are very proud of the remarkable contribution the sector is making. Even at the recent times, when the whole economy was facing challenges, the sector had remained resilient and stable,” he told the visitor, who was accompanied by a team of administrators from West Africa Telecommunication Regulators Association, WATRA.

Similarly, the NCC boss told the visitors that the commission had also noticed a remarkable increase in data usage in the country.