FG set to deploy 90,000km fibre optic broadband in Nigeria

By James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta

The President Bola Tinubu-led national authorities has concluded program to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic broadband crossed the country, to amended integer exertion successful the country.

The Senate Committee Chairman connected ICT and Cyber Security, Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu, who disclosed this astatine the opening ceremonial of the 2025 Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ogun State Council, said studies person confirmed that immoderate 10 percent summation successful fibre penetration successful the country, would pb to a minimum of 2 percent summation successful GDP growth.

Salisu besides disclosed that the National Assembly is besides moving connected a measure tagged “the National Digital Economy and E-government Bill to amended the integer exertion successful the country.

He said, “This authorities nether President Bola Tinubu, is going to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic broadband crossed the country, not conscionable successful immoderate states, not conscionable successful immoderate section governments; determination is nary ward that volition not person fibre optic presence”.

“The state is astatine the cusp of a revolution. In 1998/1999, erstwhile we liberalised the telecommunications sector, a fig of organisations didn’t judge successful the imaginable of Nigeria; they were asking questions: however galore radical would marque telephone calls successful Nigeria? Particularly we were transiting from an environment, we lone had a authorities behemoth NITEL. But what had happened? MTN, Airtel and a fig of different organisations that took vantage of Nigeria, contiguous MTN astir a fewer weeks ago, we went to committee the biggest MTN Data Centre successful Africa”.

“Twenty-five years down the line, we are astir to person yet different gyration successful our integer connection space”.

“Imagine, if you deploy much technology. And it is precise casual to fathom. Just imagine, we person fibre optic successful each our wards. I conscionable came backmost from the UN General Assembly with Minister of Digital Economy Dr. Bosun Tijani, we went to preach this to investors to travel and put successful Nigeria. We don’t privation this to conscionable beryllium authorities infrastructure alone, we privation it to besides person backstage assemblage truthful that it tin person the firm governance”.

“We are doing the infrastructure. And from the legislative angle, we are besides coming up with the National Digital Economy and E-government Bill. The integer system was contributing little than 1 percent successful 1998/1999. Today, it is adjacent to 20 percent. But that is not yet the afloat potential. The afloat imaginable volition travel erstwhile this measure is passed into instrumentality and therefore, a fig of analogue laws that are inactive holding backmost physics transactions successful the state volition beryllium replaced with this omnibus law, that would accidental if you privation signature, it’s is either carnal oregon digital; you privation papers successful its archetypal form, it’s either carnal oregon electronic”.

“And to complement that, we person a National AI Strategy and the unsocial mode that Nigeria has developed its AI Strategy has been recognised globally; Nigeria is ranked arsenic 1 of the archetypal 10 countries with AI Strategy successful the world. And what did we do? We created a portal and we asked Nigerians who are AI experts, nary substance which portion of the satellite you are, to beryllium portion of this. We person what we called AI Collective and we developed that AI Strategy; it’s the astir robust AI Strategy that immoderate country, peculiarly successful Africa, could have”.

Speaking connected the taxable of the week-long programme, “The Future of Journalism: Navigating AI and Objective Reporting”, Salisu charged the journalists to marque AI arsenic an enabler, not a replacer.

While stressing that AI has the imaginable of expanding the incidence of quackery successful journalism,
he said Mass Communication and journalism grooming institute indispensable embedded exertion into their curriculum.

He added “for those already practising who person not had the accidental of going backmost to schoolhouse to learn, they indispensable besides person continuous capableness gathering and I’m going to spouse with NUJ Ogun State Council connected the deployment of exertion and AI”.

“Journalists indispensable besides self-regulate. I’m the Chairman of Senate Committee connected ICT and Cyber Security, and we are successful the process of repealing and enacting a caller Cyber Crime Law successful the country. There is ever this hostility betwixt the state of look and nationalist security. But journalists, peculiarly nonrecreational journalists, whose grooming requires them to walk their quality stories done galore gatekeepers...