FG’s 90,000km fibre rollout begins in October – Bosun Tijani

The Federal Government on Thursday announced that the 90,000-kilometre nationwide fibre-optic network rollout will begin in October.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Thursday at the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework Workshop attended by Nairametrics.

The development comes days after the FG incorporated Bridge Open Access (Bridge OA), the independent company established to deliver Nigeria’s planned 90,000-kilometre nationwide fibre-optic network under Project BRIDGE.

What they are saying

Bosun stressed that President Bola Tinubu had already approved the deepening of connectivity, which led to the government’s investment in 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic network.

He disclosed that the rollout of the project would begin in October.

• “By the time we are done, it’s going to be either the third or second longest fibre-optic network on the African continent, somewhere between what we have in South Africa and Egypt. And this is a project that is starting implementation in October. We have raised the funding for it,” he said.

Furthermore, he added that although there is presidential approval for the installation of numerous towers in communities where there is no network coverage, the government will rely on satellites to reach some of them instead of towers.

He said certain areas where the installation of towers would be impracticable would be connected by satellite.

• “There are some places where we can’t get to at all, so we can’t put towers there. But with satellites, we can reach those locations as well,” he said, assuring that the government would cover more than 20 million people in communities where there is no access to telecommunications services.

He also stressed that if the nation wants to grow, it cannot ignore the role that digital technologies, associated businesses and start-ups are now playing, resulting in a multi-million-dollar ecosystem for Nigeria.

He added that most sectors that desire growth must adopt technology at their core.

• In his remarks, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed that, based on its research, “we’ve realized we have more than 339 innovation hubs across Nigeria,” but that they are mostly concentrated around Lagos and Abuja.

He expressed optimism that the Innovation Standards Framework, which is currently at the draft stage, can help innovators scale, grow and mature when the final draft is released.

He added that the government’s role would be to provide the enabling policies, interventions and environment for all stakeholders to work together to build a supportive culture in the tech ecosystem.

He said he was looking forward to a situation where one would not need to travel from Yola to Yaba, Lagos, to grow their business, maintaining that a standardised innovation framework across the country is the way to go.

Get up to speed

Project BRIDGE has been in development since 2024, when the Federal Executive Council approved the establishment of an SPV to facilitate the deployment of 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable across Nigeria.

• In May 2024, Tijani announced the approval, saying the additional fibre infrastructure would deepen Nigeria’s digital backbone and increase the country’s connectivity capacity.
• The government said at the time that the project would add 90,000 kilometres to the current 35,000-kilometre fibre network coverage, taking the combined national backbone to about 125,000 kilometres.

Part of the government’s efforts is to provide internet access to 20 million Nigerians, leveraging the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat).

What you should know

Nairametrics recalls that the ICT sector recorded 31.63% year-on-year growth in nominal terms in the first quarter of 2025, according to the GDP report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The development marked a 28.23 percentage-point jump compared to the 3.40% growth posted in the same quarter of 2024 and a 13.67 percentage-point increase from the last quarter of 2024, showing strong momentum in the sector’s nominal performance.

The sector’s contribution to nominal GDP rose to 10.29% in Q1 2025, up from 9.25% in Q1 2024 and 8.55% in the said quarter, further solidifying its importance as a growth engine for Nigeria’s economy.