Just a few weeks after the Federal Government approved a special purpose vehicle to support the delivery of an additional 90,000 km of fibre optic cable, it has begun talks with the World Bank.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Tuesday while announcing the kickoff of Nigeria Week in Washington, United States.
The project aims to increase Nigeria’s fibre optic cable capacity from 35,000 km to 125,000 km, making it Africa’s third-longest terrestrial fibre optic backbone behind South Africa and Egypt.
Tijani, who co-founded CcHUB, Nigeria’s first tech hub, in 2010, continues to advocate that broadband must be treated as a matter of urgency for Nigeria to advance in the digital economy.
The minister has been actively engaged with various stakeholders over the past six months to advance this initiative. “A great kickoff for Nigeria Week today at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC. Excellent discussions with the World Bank Global Digital Development team on our digital economy agenda, particularly our plans to build out a 90,000 km fibre optic network,” the minister stated on X (formerly Twitter).
