Federal Govt To Begin 90,000km Fibre Optic Rollout Within Weeks – Tijani

The Federal Government will, within the next few weeks, commence the rollout of a 90,000-kilometre fibre-optic network across Nigeria as part of a major push to expand broadband penetration, improve digital connectivity, and accelerate the country’s digital economy.

Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Tuesday after briefing President Bola  Tinubu at the presidential Villa, Abuja, on the progress of key digital infrastructure projects being implemented by his ministry.

The minister said the government had concluded the resource mobilisation and contractual processes for the nationwide project and was set to begin deployment.

“We’re now at the point where, in a few weeks, we should start to lay that fibre, so people will start seeing us around the country deploying the fibre. This is going to transform Nigeria for good,” Tijani said.

He explained that the project would extend fibre-optic infrastructure to every state, geopolitical zone, local government area, and ward, significantly improving internet access and supporting economic growth.

“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.

Tijani also attributed the sector’s recent growth to reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration, including the designation of digital infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, tariff adjustments and tax harmonisation.

According to him, the communications sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen from between 16 and 18 per cent when the administration assumed office to nearly 21 per cent.

“I think it’s probably the sector that is most appreciative of this government because when we came in, the sector was contributing between 16 to 18 per cent to our GDP, but today that sector is tracking close to 21 per cent, so it’s a significant growth,” he said.

The minister further disclosed that the Federal Government would begin deploying about 3,700 telecommunications towers from October to provide mobile network coverage to more than 20 million Nigerians living in underserved communities.

He said President Tinubu had approved the project, adding that the government had secured the financing required for its implementation.

Tijani also announced that Nigeria would launch an alphanumeric postcode system on 1 October to provide every property in the country with a unique address.

He said the initiative would improve e-commerce, logistics, emergency response, security operations and public service delivery by making it easier to identify and locate buildings nationwide.

“Our alphanumeric postcode is unique because it allows us to have unique addresses for every property. In many countries, such as the UK, postcodes are not unique to a single building; they’re typically assigned to a cluster of buildings. But what we have here is one where you can identify every building. That will change the game significantly for Nigeria in terms of the delivery of public services,” he said.

He added that the postcode system would be integrated with existing government identity databases to enhance service delivery and national security further.