Nigeria is to begin the rollout of a 90,000-kilometre fibre optic network across Nigeria in weeks.
Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Bosun Tijani, who made this known in Abuja yesterday, described the move as one of the country’s most ambitious digital infrastructure projects that would transform broadband connectivity nationwide.
The minister also announced that Nigeria would on October 1 launch an alphanumeric postcode system and start the deployment of about 3,700 telecommunications towers to provide network coverage for more than 20 million Nigerians in communities without access to telecommunications services.
He spoke after briefing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the progress of three flagship digital transformation projects being implemented by his ministry.
Tijani said the government has completed the resource mobilisation and contractual processes required for the fibre project and therefore is ready to deploy it across the country.
He said: “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.
“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.”
The minister said he thanked President Tinubu for policy reforms that have strengthened the communications sector, including the designation of digital infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, tariff adjustments and tax harmonization.
He added: “I think our sector has been extremely fortunate. With Mr President, as you can imagine, he’s given us quite a few things that the sector has been demanding for a long time.
Whether it’s the Critical National Infrastructure designation for all digital infrastructure, or the slight adjustment in tariff, which you’ve seen, the tax harmonisation, which the sector has been asking for.
“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 and 18 per cent to our GDP, but today that sector is tracking close to 21 per cent, so it’s a significant growth.”
On the postcode, he explained that the move would place Nigeria among a small number of nations using the advanced addressing technology.
“Nigeria will be amongst maybe 10 or 15 countries in the world with alphanumeric postcode. It’s the latest design in the postcode system where we can now identify every property in this country. We’re hoping to launch that one on the 1st of October,”, said Tijani
According to him, the system will assign a unique address to every building, making deliveries faster, boosting e-commerce, strengthening security and improving public service delivery.