Nigeria is set to begin construction of a 90,000-kilometre fibre optic cable network in the coming weeks as part of one of the country’s largest digital infrastructure projects.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, where he briefed the President on key projects being implemented by the ministry.
Tijani said the telecommunications sector has recorded significant growth under the Tinubu administration, attributing the progress to reforms such as the designation of digital infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, telecommunications tariff adjustments and tax harmonisation.
According to the minister, the government has completed resource mobilisation and contractual processes for the nationwide fibre project, paving the way for physical deployment.
“We’re now at the point where, in a few weeks’ time, we should start to lay those fibre, so people will start seeing us around the country deploying the fibre. This is going to transform Nigeria for good,” he said.
Tijani explained that the project would extend fibre optic infrastructure to every state, geopolitical zone, local government area and ward across the country.
“This is a project where every state, every geopolitical zone, every local government and every ward in this country will be covered with fibre optic cables, which will transform the quality of connectivity,” he said.
The minister also announced plans to begin deploying about 3,700 telecommunications towers from October to improve mobile network coverage in underserved communities.
He said the project, which has received presidential approval, is expected to provide reliable connectivity to more than 20 million Nigerians who currently lack adequate network access.
“Before the end of the year, we’ll also start to deploy close to 3,700 towers. It’s taken a lot putting this project together, raising the capital for it, but we are at a point where we should now start deploying around October,” Tijani said.
In addition, the minister revealed that Nigeria will introduce a new alphanumeric postcode system on October 1, assigning a unique address to every property in the country.
According to him, the new postcode system will improve public service delivery by providing unique addresses nationwide.
He added that the initiative is expected to strengthen logistics, support e-commerce, enhance emergency response services and improve the delivery of government services.
