Nigeria's internet is about to get a massive upgrade, and it's starting sooner than you think.

In a major boost for Nigeria's digital economy, the Federal Government has confirmed it will kick off its ambitious 90,000-kilometre nationwide fibre-optic rollout in October.

According to cbinews.tv, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, made the announcement on Thursday in Abuja at the National Innovation Hub Standards Framework Workshop.

And yes, the money is ready.

Tijani revealed that funding has already been secured for what is known as Project BRIDGE — Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth. It's a public-private partnership that will take Nigeria's fibre backbone from about 35,000km to roughly 125,000km. When completed, it will be the second or third longest fibre network in Africa, right up there with South Africa and Egypt.

So where is the cash coming from? As reported by cbinews.tv, the project has pulled together some serious backing:

$500m from the World Bank

$100m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plus a €22m EU grant

Another $200m from the African Development Bank approved in April 2026

The Minister said this is just layer one. The government's three-layer strategy starts with hardcore infrastructure — fibre, power, towers, satellites, data centres — then moves to digital platforms like ID and payments, and finally the innovators and businesses who build on top of it.

And there's more. Beyond fibre, the FG is planning to deploy nearly 3,700 new telecom towers to reach over 20 million Nigerians who currently live with zero telecoms access. Plus, Nigeria's communications satellite is set for renewal to cover those hard-to-reach spots.

Tijani tied it all back to President Tinubu's $1tn economy ambition.

“The bigger our economy gets, the more jobs we create, the more taxes we’re able to capture. And that we cannot achieve just through oil and gas. If we can create more companies like Andela, like Paystack, like Flutterwave, the future of Nigeria is, of course, extremely bright,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, NITDA DG Kashifu Abdullahi said the new National Innovation Hub Standards Framework will fix the huge imbalance in where hubs are located — with over 339 hubs concentrated in Lagos and Abuja. The goal? So you don't have to travel from Yola to Yaba just to grow your business.

The EU is firmly behind it too. Acting Head of Partnerships at the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Prof. Leila Ben-Amor, noted that Team Europe is pumping over €820m into Nigeria's digital ecosystem between 2021 and 2027, adding that “scale without a common standard is fragile.”

Implementation begins October 2026. Watch this space.

Source: cbinews.tv

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