The Federal Government has unveiled plans to construct 4,000 new telecommunication towers across the country as part of a major connectivity drive aimed at linking 20 million Nigerians currently without access to mobile networks.

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed this in Abuja, at the ongoing Digital Nigeria International Conference 2025.

He said the initiative forms part of a World Bank-supported broadband expansion programme that would deliver 90,000 kilometres of open-access fibre network, the largest of its kind in any developing country.

According to Tijani, the project, already approved under the National Assembly’s borrowing plan, underscores the administration’s determination to build a digitally inclusive economy and bridge the connectivity gap in underserved communities.

Tijani noted that Nigeria’s digital economy had continued to expand rapidly, with the ICT sector contributing about 19 per cent to the nation’s GDP, a figure projected to surpass the oil and gas sector in the near future.

He explained that the country’s tech ecosystem had become a continental leader, producing five of Africa’s nine technology unicorns, companies valued at over one billion dollars, largely due to sustained government reforms and private innovation.

Earlier, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr Kashifu Abdullahi, commended the administration’s commitment to empowering young Nigerians through innovation and digital inclusion, noting that the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda emphasised economic diversification and inclusive growth, adding that digitalisation remained central to achieving these goals.