Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has emphasized the need for collective action to bridge the country’s digital divide.
Despite significant strides in expanding connectivity and strengthening digital infrastructure over the past 25 years, millions of Nigerians remain without reliable access to digital services.
The government has launched several initiatives to address this issue, including Project BRIDGE, a 90,000km fibre optic expansion project aimed at improving broadband penetration across Nigeria.
Additionally, Project 774 aims to provide high-speed connectivity to every local government secretariat in Nigeria, while the Universal Access Project targets 20 million Nigerians without access to digital services.
The National Broadband Alliance of Nigeria (NBAN) is a multi-stakeholder effort to drive universal high-quality broadband access, and the 3 Million Technical Talent programme (3MTT) strengthens Nigeria’s talent pipeline to deliver a workforce for improving the digital ecosystem.
Dr. Tijani stressed that bridging the digital divide requires strong partnerships across the public and private sectors, development agencies, civil society, and local communities.
He outlined four key pillars for effective collaboration: community engagement, leveraging existing infrastructure, capacity building, and sustainable solutions.
Community engagement involves understanding and addressing local communities’ unique needs. Leveraging existing infrastructure maximizes the value of existing investments.
Capacity building integrates digital literacy programs and skills training. Sustainable solutions explore innovative business models and alternative energy solutions.
The minister expressed optimism about Nigeria’s digital transformation, emphasizing the need for collective action to achieve universal access to communications and digital literacy by 2030.
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