“It’s going to cost roughly $1.5 to $2 b to wire Nigeria to reach 95, 000 kilometers”_ Minister

Nigeria to shop about $2 billion to complete the deployment of fiber optic cables across the country.

The disclosure was made on Tuesday by Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, during a television interview.

He said fiber optic cable had been laid across 35 kilometers of the country, but remained just half way to cover the whole length of 95,000 kilometers.

Tijjani said his ministry was working with the Nigeria Communication Commission NCC) to complete the deployment of fiber optics as a priority to improve the quality of communication services in the country.

He said the federal government could complete the entire project within the next four years if adequate funding could be secured from private sources.

The minister expressed optimism that government would be able to secure the necessary funds within six to 12 months.

“In the next four years, we are going to do everything to increase the kilometers of fiber optic cables in Nigeria. We are about 35, 000 kilometers away, and we need to go to 95,000 kilometers, almost halfway there.

“It’s going to cost roughly $1.5 to $2 billion to wire the whole of Nigeria to reach that 95, 000 kilometers.

“We hope we can accelerate in the next six to 12 months, secure that funding that private companies can tap into—it’s not government money—and hopefully work with serious companies that can lay fiber over the next two to three years.

“We’re hoping that before the first four years of this administration, a significant portion of that 95, 000 kilometers will be covered,” he said.

On 5G services, the minister said the federal government was also working to improve the infrastructural for the 5G network across the country,

“The infrastructure that drives 5G is not something that is across the nation. We do in some places.

“So, if you subscribe to 5G and you move into locations where the infrastructure cannot support it, of course, the quality will drop. 5G exists in Nigeria and there are telcos with the licence,” the minister said.