The Federal Government, yesterday, approved the sum of N24.20bn for the provision of broadband Internet connection in at least 20 airports, 43 schools and six marketplaces nationwide.
Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, revealed this to State House correspondents after this week’s Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dr. Pantami said the selected local and international airports are drawn from the six geo-political zones, with three airports from each on average. The higher institutions of learning and markets that will benefit from the five-month project are also drawn from the geopolitical zones.
He said the broadband infrastructure would ensure connectivity in airports, ease e-learning in schools and ease mobile transactions in markets as the economy goes cashless. The Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), is the implementing institution, he noted.
“In each geo-political zone, you have around three airports. In the south-West, we have Lagos and Ondo. For the South-East, we have Anambra and Enugu.
“For the South-South, we have Port Harcourt and Akwa-Ibom. For the North-Central, we have Abuja and Ilorin. In the North-West, we have Kano, Sokoto and Kebbi. For the North-East, we have Yola, Maiduguri and Gombe”, Pantami explained.
The broadband project also extends to “43 higher institutions of learning at federal and state levels,” the Minister revealed. They include federal and State universities and Polytechnics.
This comes on the heels of an earlier approval in 2022 when the council Okayed a similar memo for the provision of unlimited Internet in 17 universities and one college of education.
