The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has said that the federal government will provide half of the $2 billion required to deliver the country’s 90,000-kilometre fibre project.
The Minister, who disclosed this while featuring on an Arise TV program on Friday, said the project, which will be financed by loans is part of the government’s borrowing plans for 2025.
“Earlier this year the FEC approved a memo which was to set up a special purpose vehicle that is meant to deploy 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables in Nigeria. Half of that money is what the government will make available.
“The half that the government is making available which is just short of $1 billion is being secured through loans,” the Minister stated.
Tijani said the project has also received immense support from President Bola Tinubu, the Ministry of Finance, and the Minister as well.
On why the government must invest in backbone connectivity infrastructure, Tijani, said many Nigerians are complaining of poor quality of service today because of the inadequacy of the infrastructure deployed by the private operators.
He noted that the operators would only invest in areas where they can get higher returns, which is why some parts of the country have been experiencing a lack of or poor connectivity.
“When we came in the assessment we did was that as a nation you have two options to build in the backbone for digital economy and connectivity.
“For people to truly enjoy quality connectivity, you will either have to rely on private companies, the MNOs, the infracos, to put their private funding into building expansive and extensive network for connectivity within the country.
“But the challenge with that approach, which is the first approach, is that businesses would only invest significantly where they are sure that their returns can be guaranteed almost immediately, at least in a short to medium-term sense.
“The other option, which is the common option that you’ve seen in many progressive countries, is that government will have to understand and of course put its own skin in the game, knowing that connectivity is now clearly an important resource that every citizen should have access to, regardless of where you find yourself,” he explained.
Dr. Tijani earlier in May this year announced the approval of the SPV by the FEC, noting that it would be modeled in governance and operations similarly to some of the best Public-Private Partnership setups in Nigeria, such as NIBSS and NLNG.
It is also expected to deliver up to 1.5% of GDP growth per capita raising GDP from $472.6 billion (2022) to $502 billion over the next 4 years.