An analyst, Mr Simon
Freemantle has said that Nigeria has the highest number of mobile phone users in Africa.
Freemantle in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Lagos  said Nigerians had embraced the technology as a means to connect and uplift the economy, adding that Africans also dominated many social networks like Facebook and Twitter describing it as very encouraging.
“Although internet users have grown tremendously but connectivity is still competitively low, leaving room for growth,” he noted,  that effective ICT can boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) job creation and other sectors of the economy.
Freemantle, a senior analyst with the Standard Bank Research of South Africa therefore advised Nigerian leaders to use the country’s growing population to enhance its economic growth.
According to him, Nigeria’s population is growing rapidly and would likely double by 2050, pointing out that, “This makes it the fastest growing country in Africa”.
The demographic advantage for Nigeria’s youthful workforce, presents a host of new opportunities compared to some advanced countries like Europe and America, where there is the problem of an ageing population”, he said, and advised Nigerian leaders to be more organised in their day-to-day activities.
The analyst noted that presently, about 40 per cent of African States were organised and it is expected to reach 60 per cent by 2015.
“By 2050, Nigeria will be home to more than 10 per cent of the world’s population. There will be an increase in consumer spending and a rapid growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”, Freemantle opined, and further advised that Nigeria should take advantage of the population growth to enhance its growth since population growth was always associated with economic growth.
He reiterated that, “Being organised will increase well planned urbanisation and by 2020, more Africans will be born in urban centres because the urban swell is growing in Africa”.