Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has recorded a significant 31.63% year-on-year growth in nominal terms for Q1 2025, according to the latest GDP report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This marks a sharp rise from the 3.40% nominal growth recorded in Q1 2024, and a 13.67 percentage point jump compared to the previous quarter. The sector’s contribution to nominal GDP also climbed to 10.29%, up from 9.25% in Q1 2024 and 8.55% in Q4 2024.
In real terms (adjusted for inflation), the ICT sector grew by 7.40% year-on-year, up 3.36 percentage points from Q1 2024. However, it experienced a seasonal slowdown with an -8.86% quarter-on-quarter decline—typical of the post-holiday dip in digital consumption.
Despite the quarterly contraction, ICT’s real GDP contribution rose to 10.59%, affirming its expanding significance.
The sector, as defined by NBS, includes Telecommunications, Publishing, Motion Picture, Sound Recording, Music Production, and Broadcasting—with telecommunications being the leading contributor.
Following a GDP rebasing exercise in January 2025, the NBS adopted 2019 as the new base year due to its economic stability. This change resulted in a significant upward revision of Nigeria’s nominal GDP estimates, with a 35.4% increase recorded for 2024 alone.
