NCC remits N133.4bn to Federation Account in 2 years

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it had remitted N133.4 billion to the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government between 2015 and 2017.

Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo disclosed this on Thursday in Lagos and said that NCC’s primary role was not only to generate revenue for the government but to nurture and regulate the telecommunications industry.

He said that the figures obtained from the commission showed impressive remittance of funds to the coffers of the consolidated revenue of the Federal Government, especially in the last two years.

According to him, NCC’s last remittance to the consolidated revenue fund, which was on June 30, 2017, was N12.7 billion noting “It came just less than 10 days after the NCC remitted the sum of N1.3 billion to the account,” he said.

Ojobo explained that commission transferred N81 billion in 2016 comprising N35 billion transferred in March and N46 billion in December 2016 respectively.

“In 2015 however, the commission remitted N23, 512,316,450 in October after paying N6, 856,182,132 in September of the same year.

“It is noteworthy also that the quarterly contribution of telecommunications sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been consistently impressive in the last two years,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta said that the sector contributed N1.549 trillion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2017.

It represented 6.68 per cent increase from the first quarter of the year contribution of N1.452 trillion.

The National Bureau of Statistics report had 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.

Similarly, Ojobo said that the nation’s quest for attainment of 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018, had received a major boost.

He said the ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development confirmed that Nigeria had achieved 21 per cent level of penetration, from less than 10 per cent two years earlier.