The Nigerian government has moved to formally incorporate a special purpose vehicle that will oversee construction of a 90,000-kilometer fibre optic network across the country, a key step toward launching one of the continent’s largest digital infrastructure projects.
The company, referred to in World Bank documents as the “Project Company” or “Project BRIDGE SPV,” will operate as a limited liability entity tasked with executing the rollout under a public-private partnership model. Its formal legal name has not yet been disclosed, according to Jumoke Akande, project lead at the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s implementation unit, who described incorporation as the point at which the entity comes into legal existence rather than a public launch of operations.
Communications Minister Bosun Tijani has said physical deployment is set to begin within weeks, following the completion of financing and contracting arrangements. The project — known as Project BRIDGE, short for Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth — aims to expand Nigeria’s fibre backbone from roughly 35,000 kilometers to 125,000 kilometers, reaching all 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and more than 770 local government areas.
The initiative carries a price tag of about $2 billion, funded through a mix of sovereign loans from development finance institutions, including the World Bank and African Development Bank, alongside private equity. The federal government will hold a minority stake of between 25% and 49% in the independently run SPV, with the World Bank’s board approving $500 million in financing toward the project in October.
Officials say the rollout is designed to operate as a wholesale, open-access network, allowing multiple telecom operators and internet service providers to share the same backbone rather than duplicating infrastructure — a model they say will lower costs and accelerate broadband expansion in underserved areas. The project is being built out in phases over roughly five years, with construction pace expected to reach up to 90 kilometers of fibre laid per day by 2028 and 2029 to meet a 2030 completion target.
The government estimates the project could support up to 20,000 direct jobs and 150,000 indirect jobs, while adding as much as 1.5 percentage points to GDP growth and helping close the connectivity gap for an estimated 33 million Nigerians who remain offline.
