FG to rollout 90,000km fibre optic network – Tijani

…says nationwide project will connect every state, LGA and ward

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA– THE Federal Government has concluded plans to roll out a 90,000-kilometre fibre optic network across Nigeria in the coming weeks, in a major digital infrastructure drive designed to expand broadband access nationwide.

Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, disclosed this Tuesday after briefing President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa, Abuja on the progress of three flagship digital transformation projects his ministry is implementing.

Tijani said the government has completed resource mobilisation and contracting for the fibre project and is ready to start nationwide deployment.

According to him: “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.”

The Minister explained that the project would extend fibre optic infrastructure to every state, geopolitical zone, local government area and ward, significantly improving the quality and reach of internet connectivity.

“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 added.

He said he also used the meeting to thank 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 harmonisation.

“I think our sector has been extremely fortunate. With Mr. President, as you can imagine, he’s given us quite a number of 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 to 18 per cent to our GDP, but today that sector is tracking close to 21 per cent, so it’s a significant growth”, Tijani said.

He noted that major players in the sector had also recorded strong financial performances since the reforms were introduced.

On rural connectivity, the minister disclosed that the government would begin deploying about 3,700 telecommunications towers from October to provide network coverage for more than 20 million Nigerians currently living in communities without access to telecommunications services.

“Mr. President also sanctioned that project. Today we’re in a place where, 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”, he said.

Tijani further revealed that Nigeria would launch an alphanumeric postcode system on October 1, placing the country 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 postcode system where we can now identify every property in this country. We’re hoping to launch that one on the 1st of October”, he said.

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.

“Inability to locate places comes at a cost. You can start to imagine what this will do to e-commerce. This would transform e-commerce completely because it means that things can now be delivered in record time”, the minister said.

He added that integrating the postcode system with existing government identity databases would enhance security and improve the efficiency of government services.

“Our alphanumeric postcode is unique because it allows us to have unique addresses for every property. In a lot of countries, like the UK, postcodes are not unique to one building; they’re typically for 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”, Tijani stated.