The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a $100 million investment in Nigeria’s Project BRIDGE, the fibre-optic expansion programme of the Federal Government.

Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, announced the approval in a post on X, adding that the funding is in addition to the $500 million financing earlier approved by the World Bank Group for the project.

“As we conclude the final leg of our Project BRIDGE Investment Tour in Europe this week, following several extremely positive engagements, I am pleased to confirm the formal approval by the Board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to proceed with a $100 million investment in Project BRIDGE,” the minister posted.

He also said the European Union committed a 22 million euro grant to the project under a broader €45 million digital economy package.

According to Tijani, the package includes €18 million for digital public services and €5 million to support the 3 Million Technical Talent programme.

He said the approvals followed a two-week investment tour across six European countries aimed at securing partnerships to deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable nationwide.