FG will begin 90,000km fibre rollout in weeks – Bosun Tijani

 The federal government says it will begin rolling out its
planned 90,000-kilometre fibre optic network within the next few weeks as part
of efforts to expand broadband access and strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy.

 

Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation and
digital economy, spoke on Tuesday after briefing President Bola Tinubu at the
Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Tijani said the government had concluded resource
mobilisation and contractual processes for the nationwide project, clearing 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,” the
minister said.

He said the project would extend fibre optic infrastructure
to every state, geopolitical zone, local government area, and ward.

“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 attributed recent growth in the telecommunications
sector to reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration, including the
designation of digital infrastructure as critical national infrastructure,
telecoms tariff adjustments, and tax harmonisation.

The minister also said the government plans to begin
deploying about 3,700 telecommunications towers from October to improve mobile
network coverage in underserved communities.

He said the project, approved by the president, is expected
to provide connectivity for more than 20 million Nigerians currently without
reliable 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,” he said.

Tijani also announced that Nigeria will launch a new
alphanumeric postcode system on October 1, saying it will assign a unique
address to every property in the country.

He said the system would improve logistics, boost
e-commerce, enhance emergency response, and strengthen public service delivery.

Tijani said the alphanumeric postcode is unique because “it
allows us to have unique addresses for every property. That will change the
game significantly for Nigeria in terms of the delivery of public services”.

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