President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria has earned $547 million through the 5G spectrum auction.
He made this known on Tuesday at the opening of the National Shared Services Centre, a one-stop-shop for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) interface with citizens, which also houses a Cyber Security Operations Centre, Network Centre and Call Centre in Abuja.
He also noted that Nigeria’s I.T. industry has contributed positively to the growth of the economy, with its 18.47% contribution to the country’s GDP.
On the continuous growth of the Information, Communication and Technology Sector (ICT) towards economic diversification, he said, “As part of our efforts to expand our digital infrastructure; we increased our 4G base stations from 13,823 to 36,751 from August 2019 to date, and this has increased the percentage of 4G coverage across the country from 23 per cent to 77.52 per cent also from August 2019 to date.
“We have also followed this up with the roll-out of 5G services.
“It is noteworthy that the digital economy sector has excelled in generating revenue for the government.”
He added that Nigeria’s digital economy had outperformed its expectations, citing 5G auction sales.
“In particular, at the Ministerial Retreat that I chaired from Oct. 18 to Oct. 19, 2022, our independent analysts adjudged the digital economy sector to have generated 594 per cent of its revenue target from the 2019 baseline.
This is very commendable. As part of these unprecedented achievements, the sector generated over 547 million dollars from the auctioning of the 5G spectrum alone”.
