President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has placed digital connectivity for unconnected Nigerians at the centre of his administration’s next phase of economic development, linking expanded access to the internet with job creation, enterprise growth and wider participation in the modern economy.
In his Independence Day address to the nation on Thursday, the President said the government would place jobs, enterprise and industrial growth at the heart of its policies, with digital connectivity listed alongside industrial development, skills and access to finance as key enablers of the strategy.
“We will expand digital connectivity into communities that have waited too long to participate in the modern economy,” Tinubu said.
The statement gives digital connectivity a broader economic role beyond telecommunications infrastructure, particularly as Nigeria faces a significant gap between network availability and actual participation in the digital economy.
Coverage is only part of the problem
More than 23 million Nigerians are estimated to live in areas without adequate connectivity, leaving them outside the reach of meaningful digital services.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has identified an estimated 23.3 million Nigerians as underserved by terrestrial networks in connection with its efforts to expand coverage through satellite technology.
However, the challenge extends far beyond those without network coverage.
The latest GSMA State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2026 report estimates that about 140 million Nigerians were in the mobile internet usage gap in 2025.
According to the body, these are people living within areas covered by mobile broadband networks but not using mobile internet services.
The GSMA findings point to a major urban-rural divide in adoption, finding in its 2025 Consumer Survey that 66 per cent of urban adults surveyed used mobile internet, compared with only 33 per cent of rural adults.
It added that internet-enabled handset ownership was also substantially lower in rural areas, at 51 per cent compared with 79 per cent among urban respondents.
The figures suggest that expanding network infrastructure is necessary but will not, on its own, close Nigeria’s digital divide as device affordability, digital skills, awareness, the cost and quality of connectivity and access to relevant digital services remain important barriers to adoption.
BRIDGE and NUCAP target infrastructure gap
The Federal Government is already pursuing major interventions to expand the physical infrastructure required to address the coverage side of the challenge.
Through Project BRIDGE, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE) is targeting at least 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with the network expected to connect more than 770 local government areas.
The project is structured as a public-private partnership, with government playing a catalytic role in expanding nationwide broadband access, according to the Minister Bosun Tijani, overseeing the project.
The project is designed as more than a fibre rollout, with the Federal Government positioning the national backbone as a foundation for digital transformation, economic growth, education, healthcare and wider access to digital services.
Alongside BRIDGE, the Nigeria Universal Communication Access Project (NUCAP) is designed to deploy 3,700 communications sites nationwide to provide rural broadband, public Wi-Fi, digital learning solutions and associated energy infrastructure in underserved and unserved communities.
The programme, expected to take off this month, October 2026, is being structured to work with mobile network operators, contractors, regulators and other stakeholders in the construction, management and commercialisation of the assets.
The Federal Government has also secured financing commitments for Project BRIDGE, including a $100 million investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and $500 million from the World Bank Group, according to the Communications Ministry.
From connectivity to economic participation
Tinubu’s latest statement places these infrastructure initiatives within a wider economic framework in which connectivity is expected to support productivity, enterprise and employment.
The President said the administration would invest in skills demanded by employers and provide Nigerian businesses with the infrastructure and finance required to grow.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that this great demographic strength becomes an engine of production rather than a source of despair,” he said.
Industry pundits have asserted that Nigeria’s digital economy is faced with dimensions of challenge, being the need to extend broadband infrastructure to communities that remain outside network coverage while also helping millions of people already within coverage to acquire the devices, skills, affordability and digital services needed to participate.
