Osinbajo disclosed this in his presentation at the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat for Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and top Government Functionaries on Monday at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
The vice president’s presentation was titled, “The President Muhammadu Buhari Administration: Reflections on the Journey So Far.’’ The VP who detailed some of the game changing achievements of the Federal Government said there some areas of concern in the economy.
“ This has also been helped by the Ministry of Communication and digital economy directly engaging the states to reduce the rates charged for laying fibre optic cables many have complied with the right of way policy and have as low as N140 per metre, while some states have completely removed the charges.
“In August 2019, the broadband coverage was 33.7 per cent and today it is 44.65 per cent, representing close to 13 million new broadband users.
“There were 13,823 4G base stations and we now have 36,751, representing a 165.86 per cent increase..
“ The percentage 4G coverage across the country also increased from 23 per cent to 77.52 per cent.’’
The vice president said that the deployment of 5G technology would become the biggest contribution of the digital economy to Nigeria’s economic growth.
He said that there was already presidential approval for the 5G policy, and the auctioning of the spectrum.
The vice president said that the deployment of the technology would radically transform the digital technology landscape in Nigeria in the next few years.
“ In terms of density, 4G allows connection to about 1 million devices in 500 square kilometres, while 5G will allow the same number of devices in just 1 square kilometre.
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“ There also the very fast data rates of the 5G and more efficient energy usage.
“Additionally, the cost of data has crashed from N1,200 per GB in 2019 to about N360 today, making it easier for Nigerians to connect to the Internet.
“Now, we have embarked on the National Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure Backbone II (NICTIB II) to connect 20 states with fibre optics that had not been connected in NICTIB I.’’
The vice president said that tremendous progress has been made in expanding the digital identity database from less than 40 million people with National Identification Numbers (NINs) in 2020 to 90,268,742 NIN records as at end of September.
He said that digital identity was profoundly important for the entire economy.
“ It assures democratised access to basic services, like health, education, and banking, and enables the inclusion of millions in the digital, economy.
“Another key strand of Nigeria’s digital journey is the stellar performance of our fintech companies the growth of which was supported by the CBN in terms of granting new categories of licences and providing clear regulatory guidelines for payment service providers.
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“This has led to an explosion in participation with the value of digital transactions in Nigeria rising to N286 trillion in 2021,’’ he said.
the VP also said "our exchange rate management continues to be an issue. The exchange rate of the naira to convertible currencies continues to face significant downward pressure because demand substantially outstrips supply.
"That is just the reality. On one hand we have tried demand management and rationing, which has not really worked because fixing the price while the parallel market reveals a massive arbitrage merely creates the opportunity for massive rents.
"It will also compound the backlog of remittances for foreign businesses who want to repatriate their earnings. The discussion that we must now have and going forward is how best to manage the situation by finding a mechanism for increasing supply and moderating demand which will be transparent and will boost confidence.
"I think that a more market driven approach will be best, some price discovery within the context of a managed float is certainly required. Some efforts at controlled price discovery that had been made in the past include the Foreign Exchange Market (FEM), interbank Foreign Exchange Market (IFEM), various iterations of the Dutch Auction System. (DAS), Wholesale Dutch Auction System (W-DAS), Retail Dutch Auction System (R-DAS).
"While they may not have been perfect it would appear as if the rules were clear and there was relative stability. When people know how they can access foreign exchange competitively, this will boost confidence and inward flows will increase."
Among the game changing achievements of the Buhari administration that the VP listed include the development of infrastructure "with the creativity we have introduced to infrastructure financing."
He also spoke about the success of the Socially Investment Programmes and the improvements in generating capacity in the power sector and the Solar Power Naija which is in the process of providing off-grid power to about 20million Nigerians. He also spoke about the progress in Digital Economy with the sector contributing over 18% to GDP in the second quarter of 2020, almost three times the oil and gas contribution.