FG to deploy 3,700 telecom towers to connect 20m Nigerians

Saturday October 17, 2026

By thenewsdesk.ng

The Federal Government has unveiled plans to deploy 3,700 telecommunications towers nationwide to connect about 20 million Nigerians currently without access to telephone and internet services.

Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed this on Friday while commissioning a telecommunications tower under the National Universal Communications Access Programme (NUCAP) in Bende, Abia State.

Tijani said the Bende facility was the first site being commissioned under the national initiative aimed at extending reliable telecommunications and broadband services to unserved and underserved communities.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given us a clear mandate: work towards bringing every Nigerian online. Through NUCAP, we are delivering 3,700 telecommunications towers across Nigeria. Today, we are commissioning the first of these sites here. More will follow across the country in the coming days, weeks and months,” he said.

The minister said the project was designed to bridge the digital divide and ensure that geographical location did not prevent Nigerians from accessing opportunities.

According to him, rural farmers should be able to contact buyers without struggling to find network signals, while traders should not lose sales because customers cannot make electronic transfers.

He also said families should be able to contact loved ones and seek emergency assistance without the difficulties associated with poor network coverage.

Tijani urged residents to see the telecommunications tower as an investment whose benefits would extend beyond immediate connectivity to education, commerce, skills acquisition and improved social interaction.

Drawing an analogy between the tower and a tree, he said its benefits would grow over time, creating opportunities for farmers to find new markets, young people to acquire digital skills, traders to secure orders from other towns and families to communicate more easily.

He assured that the intervention in Bende would not end with the commissioning of the first facility, adding that the Federal Government would continue working with Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, network operators and community leaders to reach other unconnected communities.

(Vanguard)