Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani says Nigeria’s digital economy depends on connectivity and local researchers generating insights to drive nationwide development.
The Minister said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.
“Infrastructure is the bedrock for most of the things we want to achieve. Whether it’s physical hardware infrastructure or digital, and in our case, we know that today there’s really no strong economy without connectivity. There’s no media, there’s no education, there’s no commerce without connectivity.
“So we must mobilize our local researchers to ensure they’re paying attention to these developments, researching them, generating insights, and sharing those insights with us,” he urged.
Minister Tijani explained that internet demand has surged far beyond infrastructure growth, causing slower speeds and connectivity issues despite ongoing investments.
“What’s happened in Nigeria in the last ten years or so is that the data that we consume as a people has gone up tremendously. I think it’s something around probably 90 times what we used to consume ten years ago. So there’s a significant growth in appetite for connectivity. Some of this growth is based on content—the fact that there are now more relevant contents like online banking, social media, WhatsApp, it’s gone up significantly. But when you compare it to investment in infrastructure—connectivity is largely based on infrastructure—that investment has not matched the growth in what we’re consuming,” he explained.
Speaking on the government’s role in ensuring better connectivity, Minister Tijani says it is catalyzing the deployment of nationwide high-quality internet through strategic investment and private-sector partnership.
“I think what we’ve seen over the years is that government has left it to the private sector to carry on that investment. But there’s no country in the world—not even in the developed world—where you truly want to match up with the growth in connectivity and consumption that government is not had to also catalyze.
“And that’s why we’re introducing this project. Government is not stepping in to say we’re going to put taxpayers’ money to build the entire thing, but what we’re saying is we will bring up to 49% of the funding that is required to deploy 90,000 kilometers of fiber. 90,000 kilometers is quite significant. It means every geopolitical zone, every state, every local government, and every ward in this country, once it’s done—it’s a three to five-year project—will have the point of presence for internet.
“We’ve made significant progress—World Bank is leading this project, we’ve already raised the portion of it which the government is going to put on the table, (over $850 million). We’re now mobilizing the private sector to plug the remaining gap. This is not going to be managed by government, because government is not in the business of managing infrastructure,” he explained.
Stressing the importance of safety in the internet, Minister Tijani stated that research complements infrastructure by ensuring internet access is safe, inclusive, and truly beneficial,
“As we invest in these 90,000 kilometers, can we also consciously start to ask our academic researchers to start to pay attention to things like safety on the internet? Right? So we’re now making internet more ubiquitous, we have our young people going on it—who is caring for whether they’re safe or online?
“Safety is important. It’s also the same thing as what I mentioned earlier: there’s one thing around connectivity, and there’s ‘meaningful connectivity.’ And that’s what you were talking about where people are paying for connectivity, but is it truly serving them? We need to study that.
“Make it everybody-friendly! This can only come in a proper society from proper insight, which comes from proper evidence-based research. And government also, we will come from a political perspective and say this is what’s good for our society. In the best societies in the world, the academic sector then plays the role of the neutral community who studies the benefit of this,” the Minister explained.
Furthermore, Minister Tijani added that the provided funding will enable researchers to conduct in-depth studies, generate insights, and directly inform policies that will shape Nigeria’s digital economy.
“What we’re creating is six research clusters. For each of those clusters, we’ve allocated $1.5 million to each of them over the next three years. This will be a group of researchers, led by six academic researchers—the best in those topics that we have in the country—they will come from six different academic institutions for each cluster. So that will be 36 across all the six. And for each of the clusters, the resources will allow them to be able to recruit what you call ‘Post-docs’—people that finished their PhDs and can now also join the professor to research. They’ll also be able to recruit PhD students. And at the end of the day, we’re not just giving them resources to do research—their research must translate to policy, and we should be able to commercialize some of them.”
Adding, Min. Tijani said that the funding ensures research is useful and structured.
“The funding has been structured—we’re not just going to carry money and give it to them. It’s a client-supplier relationship.”
Speaking on the design of digital projects, Min. Tijani says the focus is on users’ needs, ensuring solutions are practical before aesthetics or functionality.
“Honestly, it’s about the person who’s going to use it. Aesthetics and functionality are crucial, obviously, but if the design doesn’t solve a real problem or make someone’s life a little bit easier, it’s just noise,” he noted.
The Minister also noted that as technology evolves, designers focus more on experiences, systems, ethics, and long-term impact.
“We’re moving beyond just creating physical or digital products. Now, we’re designing experiences and systems. With AI and more integrated tech, our role is becoming more about ethics and sustainability. It’s not just ‘can we build this?’ but ‘should we build this?’ and ‘what’s the long-term impact?'”
Emphasising the need to make technology human-centered, Minister Tijani says designers must balance innovation with user privacy and responsibility.
“Think about smart home devices. We can make them do almost anything, but should they be constantly listening? How do we balance convenience with privacy? As designers, we have to advocate for the user’s rights, even when it’s not the easiest path. We have the chance to shape a future that’s more human-centered and responsible,” he concluded.
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