The Federal Government plans to activate at least 200 new telecommunications sites before December as part of efforts to extend mobile connectivity to more than 20 million Nigerians in underserved and unserved communities.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Monday at 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 to bridge the country’s connectivity gap.
“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 providing connectivity to more than 20 million people when the project is completed.
“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 project followed a directive by President Bola Tinubu to extend telecommunications services to communities that remain disconnected from the country’s digital infrastructure.
Tijani said the first tower under the programme had been deployed in Kura Village, outside Abuja, while work had also started in the Niger Delta.
He added that the government was investing in a 90,000-kilometre fibre-optic network to expand broadband infrastructure and improve internet access across the country.
The minister also disclosed that President Tinubu had approved an upgrade of Nigeria’s communications satellite to extend connectivity to areas 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 said the Information and Communications Technology sector’s contribution 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 would seek to raise the sector’s contribution to 25 per cent, stressing that increased 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.
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Speaking at the event, the National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, said the commission had licensed 356 Data Protection Compliance Organisations and facilitated the creation of more than 27,000 jobs within three years.
He also said the commission had generated more than N12bn in revenue during the period, while Nigeria’s data privacy and protection ecosystem was valued at over N18bn.
Olatunji added that the commission’s virtual privacy academy had enrolled more than 66,000 Nigerians, while over 220 training programmes had reached 99,370 people across different sectors.
Earlier, the NDPC’s Head of People Management and Administration, Watira Fitto, described the new headquarters as a major milestone for the commission.
She said the commission had moved offices four times in four years, from fewer than three office spaces at NITDA to about eight in Maitama, 26 in Asokoro and its new facility with about 56 office spaces in Mbora District, Abuja.
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Cecilia Attah is a tech analyst with a degree from Benue State University. She covers tech news and startups at TechRegard with a focus on how technology is transforming Africa and shaping the global landscape.
