The government of Nigeria has revealed ambitious plans to launch a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the delivery of an additional 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable to complement existing infrastructure and increase connectivity across Nigeria.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani suggested this week that the project would increase Nigeria’s fibre optic cable capacity from 35,000 kilometres to 125,000 kilometres, giving it the third-longest terrestrial fibre optic backbone in the continent behind South Africa and Egypt.
The SPV enabling this will be a separate legal entity created to achieve a specific goal or project. Thus, reports suggest, the SPV will manage the fibre optic project, overseeing its implementation, finances and operations.
It is clear that the project is hoped to have a transformative effect. Dr Tijani mentioned the fact that eight submarine cables had already landed in Nigeria and hoped that this, and the additional cable, would drive uptake beyond the current usage level of 10%, connecting over 200,000 educational, healthcare and social institutions across Nigeria.
He added that the project would also help to increase internet penetration in Nigeria to over 70%, reduce the cost of access to the internet by over 60% and offer internet inclusion of at least 50% of the 33 million Nigerians with no access to the internet.
A potential boost to GDP from US$472.6 billion in 2022 to US$502 billion over the next four years was also mentioned.
While work to establish the SPV has apparently begun, there seems to be no information on the SPV's shareholders, registration date, or potential expiration date. Nor have suppliers been revealed.
