The Federal Government has announced plans to activate at least 200 new telecommunications sites before December as part of a nationwide infrastructure project aimed at connecting more than 20 million Nigerians currently without adequate telecom services.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Monday during the commissioning of the new headquarters of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission in Abuja.
Tijani said the sites were part of the government’s plan to deploy 3,700 telecommunications towers across the country, with priority given to underserved and unserved communities.
“Before December, at least 200 of those sites will be active,” the minister said.
He explained that each tower would serve communities with between 5,000 and 10,000 residents, potentially bringing more than 20 million Nigerians into the country’s digital network.
“Each of those towers will serve communities of about 5,000 to 10,000 people. These are people that are currently unconnected. So, at the end of this project, we will be reaching over 20 million Nigerians,” Tijani said.
According to the minister, the initiative followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive to extend telecommunications services to communities that remain disconnected from Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
Tijani said the first tower under the programme had been deployed in Kura Village, outside Abuja, while work had also commenced in the Niger Delta.
He added that the Federal Government was investing in a 90,000-kilometre fibre-optic network to expand broadband infrastructure and improve internet access nationwide.
The minister further disclosed that President Tinubu had approved an upgrade of Nigeria’s communications satellite to extend coverage to locations that cannot be reached by fibre-optic cables or telecommunications towers.
“For places where fibre cannot reach, where towers cannot reach, NIGCOMSAT will now be able to reach those locations,” he said.
Tijani also said the contribution of the Information and Communications Technology sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product had increased to about 21 per cent, from between 16 and 18 per cent when the administration assumed office.
He said the government should target increasing the sector’s contribution to 25 per cent, stressing that expanded connectivity must be accompanied by digital literacy, cybersecurity and stronger data protection.
“As we bring more people online, we also have to ensure that we can protect them as well. And that is why digital literacy, cybersecurity and data protection are all critical pillars of the growth of our digital economy in Nigeria,” Tijani said.
