NIGCOMSAT targets 729 LGAs for broadband services

•NIPOST says it recorded 275% revenue rise

Nigeria Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited said providing broadband connectivity to all the 774 local government areas (LGAs) in Nigeria will be a priority in 2025.

With broadband penetration, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at 42.24 per cent as of October 2024, NIGCOMSAT said that it extended coverage to 45 LGAs in eight states last year, which is done in partnership with the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy.

NIGCOMSAT will be hoping to complete expansion to the remaining 729 LGAs this year. NIGCOMSAT Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nkechi Jane Egerton-Idehen, disclosed the achievements of the agency in 2024. He said it fixed its infrastructure (K, C and KU bands), provided rural broadband and introduced the Startup Accelerator Programme to stimulate startup growth.

Egerton-Idehen said the Agency will scale services to other parts of Nigeria, especially rural areas through collaborations with mobile network operators.

According to her, this year, the target is also to impact the health sector through telemedicine, education through eLearning, skills development and the defence sector. She stressed that youths will also be a major focus as part of the Renewed Agenda of the present government.

On his part, the National Commissioner of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Dr Vincent Olatunji, said in 2025, the Commission will come harder on data defaulters.

Olatunji said NDPC achieved much last year in data protection both in the public and private sectors. He said they had about 200 awareness, training and workshops to ensure data protection is understood adequately.

“In 2025, there will be massive enforcement and penalties handed to data protection defaulters in the country,” he stressed.He said there will be massive job creation from NDPC based on the training done in the last few months.

The Postmaster General of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST), Tola Odeyemi, disclosed that the service implemented several reforms that led to a 275 per cent increase in revenue in 2024.She said NIPOST was able to boost its revenue generation by blocking loopholes and improving its service quality, which led to an increase in patronage of its services.

To sustain its revenue growth, Odetola said NIPOST had started by renovating and upgrading some of its locations in Abuja, Lagos, and Kaduna by upgrading its Postal Institute, which is key to the change management that we want to see in NIPOST over the coming years.

“So, what are some of the things that you should be expecting from the Nigerian Postal Service in 2025?

“We will be rolling out our national addressing system and digital postcode., specialized logistics, such as agri-logistics and healthcare logistics, and a relaunch of our financial services.

“There will be infrastructure upgrades, which will take place across the Federation and there will be an increase in access to government services through your local NIPOST location,” she said.