Shortly after the Federal Government sanctioned a special purpose vehicle to bolster the installation of an additional 90,000 km of fibre optic cable, talks with the World Bank have commenced, as revealed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, during the initiation of Nigeria Week in Washington, United States, on Tuesday.
The project aims at amplifying Nigeria’s fibre optic cable capacity from 35,000 km to 125,000 km, positioning it as Africa’s third-longest terrestrial fibre optic backbone, trailing South Africa and Egypt. Tijani, a co-founder of CcHUB, Nigeria’s premier tech hub, underscores the urgency of prioritizing broadband development for Nigeria’s advancement in the digital economy.
Over the past six months, the minister has actively engaged with various stakeholders to propel this initiative, culminating in fruitful discussions with the World Bank Global Digital Development team. Prior to his Washington visit, Tijani virtually met with World Bank representatives to delve into priority areas of digital trade for Nigeria and the Digital Trade Policy Gap Analysis findings.
In tandem with enhancing broadband penetration, which presently stands at less than 50 percent, Tijani has orchestrated an artificial intelligence roadmap, drawing insights from 120 researchers convened last month.
Reaffirming his commitment, Tijani stresses the centrality of building a robust connectivity infrastructure backbone for Nigeria’s digital economy. He acknowledges the growing support from partners and the strategic alignment with the National Broadband Plan 2020–2025, targeting 70 percent penetration and 90 percent population coverage by 2025.
Acknowledging challenges such as deficits in fibre infrastructure, high Right of Way (RoW) license fees, security concerns, foreign exchange limitations, and multiple taxation, the World Bank estimates a $6 billion annual investment requirement to bridge Africa’s digital gap.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission has secured right-of-way fee waivers in six states, a development poised to catalyze the telecommunications sector, with ongoing discussions to secure additional waivers in other states.
