Shittu says ICT can raise SME contribution to GDP
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Barrister Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu, has said proper deployment of Information Communication Technology (ICT) can propel the Small and Medium Scales (SMEs) to increase its present contribution of one percent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The minister also said using IT in the production processes of products and services would act as the catalyst economic development, a statement from the minister’s media Victor Oluwadamilare said on Monday.
Shittu who spoke at the University of Ibadan School of Business Eminent Person Business Lecture Series in Ibadan at the weekend lamented that despite the fact that 96 per cent of Nigerian businesses are SMEs, the sector contribute approximately one per cent to Nigeria’s GDP, a development attributable to several constraints which are not limited to lack of funding, infrastructure and low level of productivity.
Barr. Shittu, however, was optimistic that the country could leverage ICT to further increase productivity for it to become a critical leader in the fourth industrial revolution as declared sometimes ago in Kigali, Rwanda.
