Nigeria’s Broadband Penetration Rises To 42.27% In March; Agricultural Sector GDP Grows By 3.16% In Q1 2022

Nigeria’s broadband penetration rose to 42.27% in March this year from 40.8% it recorded in February, odunews.com reports.

This was contained in the data obtained from the Nigerian Communications Commission website on Monday.

Broadband penetration is the number of subscriptions to fixed and mobile broadband services divided by the number of residents in each country.

The growth recorded cannot be separated from the NCC’s lifting of the prohibition on new card sales and activation after a temporary halt on sales to allow for the National Identification Number and SIM card integration exercise.

Nigeria’s government had set a target of 70% broadband penetration to being achieved by 2025 as the country began the implementation of the National Broadband Plan (NBP 2020-2025).

Telecommunications operators in the country also broadened their broadband coverage by 2.5 million new users in March this year, bringing the country’s total subscriptions for high-speed internet to 80.6 million from 78.1 million recorded in February.

AGRICULTURAL SECTOR GDP GROWS BY 3.16% IN Q1 2022

The National Bureau of Statistics has announced that the Agricultural sector’s Gross Domestic Product recorded a 3.16% growth in the first quarter of 2022.

Odunews.com had earlier reported that the country’s GDP increased by 3.11% in Q1 of 2022.

In the same vein, the agricultural sector grew by 11.55% year-on-year in nominal terms in Q1 2022, showing a fall of 3.59% points from the same quarter of 2021 and contributed 22.36% to overall GDP in real terms in Q1 2022, higher than the contribution in the first quarter of 2021 and lower than the fourth quarter of 2021 which stood at 22.35% and 26.84%.

According to the statement by NBS, the agricultural sector contributed “22.36% to overall GDP in real terms in Q12022, higher than the contribution in the first quarter of 2021and lower than the fourth quarter of 2021which stood at 22.35% and 26.84% respectively”.

NBS also noted that crop production is largely responsible for the growth recorded in the sector. It revealed that it for 92.05% of overall nominal growth of the sector in the first quarter of 2022. Quarter-on-Quarter growth stood at -19.75% in the first quarter of 2022.

Although, the Agriculture sector contributed a lower nominal GDP rate when compared to what was recorded in the first quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2021 which recorded 21.42% and 24.17% respectively, it however contributed 21.09% to nominal GDP in the first quarter of 2022.