Nigeria Unveils Technical Design for Project Bridge, the Nation’s Largest-Ever Fibre Backbone Initiative
This project, which is arguably the largest of its kind in a developing nation, is a cornerstone of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and is designed to provide high-speed, resilient, and equitable broadband connectivity to every part of Nigeria, from major cities to remote communities.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy , Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, has unveiled the high-level technical design for Project Bridge, describing it as the most ambitious digital infrastructure project in the country’s history and the largest fibre backbone investment ever undertaken in a developing nation.
The flagship initiative, anchored in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, will see the construction of a 90,000-kilometre wholesale, open-access fibre network spanning the length and breadth of Nigeria. When combined with the existing 35,000km of fibre, the project will create a 125,000km national digital backbone designed to deliver high-speed, resilient, and equitable broadband connectivity to every corner of the country — from bustling urban hubs to the most remote rural communities.
The design was presented at a stakeholder event in Lagos, hosted in partnership with the Association of Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ATCON ), marking what Dr. Tijani described as a major step towards building a truly inclusive and future-ready digital economy. Project Bridge has been conceived to serve both large and small Internet Service Providers, with a scalable architecture that spans core, metropolitan, and middle-mile layers. By encouraging competition and infrastructure sharing, the network aims to accelerate broadband expansion and bridge Nigeria’s connectivity gap.
At the centre of the plan are seven regional backbone rings linking Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones — Lagos, South West, South South, South East, North Central, North East, and North West. These interconnected rings are designed to provide redundancy, minimise latency, and ensure seamless data flow nationwide. The regional network also includes 37 metropolitan networks and reaches all 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs), creating a resilient digital framework capable of supporting economic activity, governance, education, and innovation across all regions.
From each LGA, a Point of Presence will serve as a key distribution hub, with fibre extending to administrative wards, particularly targeting schools and healthcare facilities. These ward-level nodes, functioning as mini PoPs, will enable further last-mile distribution and help close the digital divide in underserved rural communities. With an average LGA-to-ward distance of around six kilometres, the design allows for efficient deployment while remaining scalable for future growth.
The final phase of the project — the last mile — will connect homes, businesses, and institutions using fibre or other access technologies. This will be supported by the strength of the middle-mile network, ensuring that broadband access becomes a reality for millions more Nigerians.
He called on stakeholders to contribute feedback on the rollout process and share insights on how the network can best serve Nigeria’s long-term social and economic transformation.
“This marks a major step forward in our mission to build a truly inclusive and future-ready digital economy for all Nigerians. As we look forward to the roll out of this groundbreaking project, we welcome comments around the potential impact on our digital economy as well as any shared experiences that will support and enrich this process.”
– Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Nigeria
