Nigeria's Project Bridge: 90,000km Fibre Rollout Confirmed for October Launch
Nigeria's federal government has confirmed that its 90,000km fibre infrastructure rollout, dubbed Project Bridge, will commence in October, according to Communications Minister Bosun Tijani. The commitment represents one of the largest single connectivity infrastructure pledges on the continent and follows data released on August 18 showing Nigeria's broadband speeds have already risen 155 percent as fibre connections triple.
Project Bridge: $900m raised, $1.1bn still to find — and October is twelve weeks away
The funding gap is the number that deserves the most attention here. Nigeria's government has secured roughly $900 million in commitments from the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the EBRD toward a project that needs $2 billion in full. That's less than half.
An October start is entirely possible with partial funding — you can break ground on the first few thousand kilometres. But Nigeria already concentrates 18% of its existing fibre in Lagos and Abuja alone. The sections that get built first, when money is tightest, tend to be the commercially attractive ones — the routes that connect cities that already have options.
The rural communities Project Bridge is meant to reach are exactly the ones that get deferred when budgets tighten. Watch not just whether October holds, but which kilometres get laid first.
3 sources
- FG’s 90,000km fibre rollout begins in October – Bosun Tijani · nairametrics.com · T2
- Project Bridge: FG to commence 90,000km fibre rollout in October · technext24.com · T2
- FG to begin 90,000km fibre rollout in October – Bosun Tijani · innovation-village.com · T2