Nigeria set to begin 90,000km fibre rollout in October

Nigeria's federal government is set to begin the execution of Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth, (otherwise known as Project BRIDGE in October), according to the country's Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani.

Project BRIDGE is a 90,000-kilometre nationwide fibre-optic network project approved by President Tinubu to deepen connectivity, especially in the underserved parts of the country. Minister Tijani said required money had been secured to execute the project.

In addition, Tijani also made claims that Project BRIDGE will be either the second or third longest fibre optic network in Africa. In other words, it'll be compared “somewhere between what we have in South Africa and Egypt,” he claimed.

The execution assurance (that it'll commence in October) marks the beginning of much-awaited infrastructure project the government had earlier slated to begin in Q4 2026. More so, the project is expected to set Nigeria on the path of achieving its $1 trillion economy by 2030.

BRIDGE expands Nigeria's fibre backbone

The 90,000 Kilometre fibre optic will grow the country's fibre network from around 35,000km to about 125,000km. The project will be deployed across Nigeria via a public-private partnership. The government has repeatedly linked ita fibre expansion plans to its broader ambition of building a $1 trillion economy, framing digital infrastructure as central to that goal.

Minister Tijani has described project BRIDGE rollout as part of the "deep structural" investments needed to grow the digital economy's share of GDP, alongside new telecom towers and a national data exchange system. Officials have set a target of raising the digital economy's contribution to GDP to 21% by 2027, that's up from around 16% to 19% in recent years.

The Minister also noted that technology had become critical to productivity in sectors ranging from agriculture to healthcare and education.

The broader digital economy's strategies

According to Minister Tijani, the government's broader digital economy's strategies are sub-divided into three layers, which includes:

• Layer one: The government plans to begins with infrastructure such as fibre, power, telecom towers, satellites and data centres. Part of the fibre plans is the 90,000KM fibre optic network. In addition, the government plans to deploy about 3,700 telecom towers to the underserved communities that have no network coverage.
• Layer two: The second layer of the government's strategies on digital innovation includes, digital platforms that enhances identity and payment systems.
• Layer three: The third layer covers innovators and businesses that build services on the infrastructure.

More than 20 million Nigerians currently live in communities with zero telecom access. In addition to the strategies, the government plans to renew the country's communications satellite to bring connectivity to areas where towers and ground infrastructure simply can't reach, according to the Minister.

Project BRIDGE Fundings

According to information obtained from Punch Newspaper, Project BRIDGE has received fundings from multiple development partners, including the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD), and the African Development Bank (AFDB). Here's how the partners fund the project:

• The African Development Bank financed the project with a $200 million loan as part of a broader $800 million sovereign financing package set to back the Nigeria’s Digital Value Chain Infrastructure for Boosting Employment project, which incorporates Project BRIDGE.
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development backed the project with a $100 million loan alongside a €22m European Union grant.
• Lastly, the project also received $500m loan from the World Bank in October 2025.

Altogether, total financing for the project is estimated at $2 billion, which also includes an EU grant and more than $1 billion in private-sector investment. The EU grant is a project preparation grant from the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance. Meanwhile, the project has only received over $900 millions from those international development partners. It's also worth noting that it's almost 2 years since the country announced 90,000km fibre project.