The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, has warned that Nigeria may be expanding its digital infrastructure without doing enough to ensure citizens can afford, access and meaningfully use the services it enables.
Speaking at the just concluded second Rural Connectivity Summit organised by Business Metrics Limited (BML) bin Lagos, he further challenged the country to measure digital inclusion by its economic and social impact rather than infrastructure deployment alone.
Represented by the Head of Technical Services at Galaxy Backbone, Nnamdi Onoh, Adeyanju argued that investments in telecommunications infrastructure would deliver limited value if they failed to connect citizens to opportunities in education, healthcare, agriculture, public services and the wider digital economy.
“Connectivity is never an end in itself,” he said, stressing that the ultimate purpose of digital infrastructure was to expand human capability and economic opportunity.
Beyond Network Coverage
Galaxy Backbone cautioned against treating the availability of mobile network signals as evidence that communities had achieved meaningful digital inclusion.
A rural settlement could have cellular coverage and still remain digitally excluded if residents could not afford data, access suitable devices, rely on electricity or acquire the skills needed to use online services.
The company argued that inclusion required a combination of reliable infrastructure, affordable access, sufficient network capacity, digital literacy and services tailored to local needs.
It also called for a shift in how the success of connectivity projects is measured, urging stakeholders to look beyond the kilometres of fibre deployed and the number of towers installed.
“Our success must be measured by tangible socioeconomic outcomes, enterprises formed, maternal health outcomes improved, and farm-gate profit margins expanded rather than solely by linear kilometres of fibre buried beneath the earth,” Adeyanju said.
His presentation illustrated the consequences of digital exclusion through the experience of rural farmers, students and healthcare providers, explaining that without reliable internet access, farmers may struggle to obtain current commodity prices, students lose access to digital learning resources, while rural health facilities face limitations in accessing remote medical expertise.
Government Could Help Make Connectivity Viable
Galaxy Backbone also identified the commercial challenges facing network operators in underserved communities, where high infrastructure costs, Right-of-Way negotiations, security risks and uncertain returns can discourage investment.
To address these constraints, the company proposed that government should play a more deliberate role in creating predictable demand for connectivity by becoming an anchor customer for private infrastructure providers.
Under the proposed model, public institutions such as schools, hospitals, local government secretariats and security posts would aggregate their connectivity requirements, providing a more dependable revenue base for operators while creating opportunities to extend services to neighbouring communities.
The company also advocated harmonised Right-of-Way charges, stronger protection for critical national infrastructure (CNI) and infrastructure sharing across fibre ducts, telecommunications towers and power installations to reduce costs and eliminate unnecessary duplication.
It pointed to the Nigeria Universal Communication Access Project (NUCAP), which is establishing 3,700 shared communication sites across underserved wards, as an example of an approach integrating solar power, broadband backhaul and community access.
Stronger Backbone, Better Outcomes
While challenging the infrastructure-first approach to digital inclusion, Galaxy Backbone maintained that reliable last-mile services still depend on adequate backbone capacity.
It cited Project BRIDGE, the Federal Government’s initiative to deploy at least 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure nationwide, as an important intervention to strengthen the country’s digital transmission network.
Galaxy Backbone disclosed that its own national fibre network spans more than 5,000 kilometres across 26 states, supporting connectivity and shared digital services for more than 400 ministries, departments and agencies across over 3,000 public sites.
The company said investments in backbone infrastructure must be accompanied by infrastructure sharing, reliable power, affordable services and digital skills development if they are to translate into broader economic participation.
Adeyanju stressed that the ambition to bring more Nigerians into the digital economy should not be reduced to subscriber acquisition.
“The optical fibre cable is not the destination. The transmission tower is not the destination. The data centre is not the destination. The destination is the Nigerian citizen,” he said.
According to Adeyanju, “the central test of digital inclusion is whether connectivity enables citizens, regardless of location, to access public services, improve their livelihoods and participate meaningfully in the economy.”
About RuralConnect 2.0
RuralConnect 2.0 is the second edition of the Rural Connectivity Summit, an initiative of Business Metrics Limited dedicated to advancing digital inclusion and expanding meaningful connectivity across underserved communities in Nigeria.
Held under the theme “Rural Inclusion at Scale: Connecting the Next 25 Million Users for Frontier Market Growth,” the summit brings together government agencies, telecommunications operators, infrastructure providers, technology companies, investors and development partners to address the barriers to rural connectivity and identify practical pathways to sustainable deployment.
According to the Convener, Omobayo Azeez, RuralConnect seeks to “move the conversation from connectivity as an aspiration to connectivity as an actionable development agenda.”
The platform is designed to help stakeholders align government priorities with industry solutions, build partnerships and translate discussions into implementation.
Building on the first edition, RuralConnect 2.0 also seeks to strengthen the coalition required to expand access, with a focus on identifying gaps, showcasing solutions and advancing collaborative action.
As Azeez puts it, the goal is to ensure the summit is remembered not only for its conversations, but also for “the partnerships we strengthen, the commitments we make and the actions that follow.”
