The Nigerian government gave its approval on Wednesday to allocate N24.20bn for the purpose of providing broadband internet connection to a minimum of 20 airports, 43 schools, and six marketplaces all over the country.
The Punch reported that the announcement of the approval was made by the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Pantami, during a press briefing with State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
According to Pantami, the selected domestic and foreign airports are taken from the six geopolitical regions, with an average of three airports from each area.
The higher institutions and markets that will receive the benefits of the five-month initiative are also selected from the geopolitical zones.
In the words of Pantami, “In each geopolitical zone, you have around three airports. In the southwest, 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.”
The Minister also disclosed that the broadband project will reach “43 higher institutions of learning at federal and state levels.” This includes both federal and state universities and polytechnics.
This is the second phase of the project. The government gave its approval for the inclusion of 20 local and foreign airports in the second phase of a project.
“And in addition, we also have 43 institutions of learning. So in total, 63 institutions are going to benefit and the price for this is N18.95bn.
“The second memo is for the provision of broadband to selected markets…six markets are going to benefit from this and the price is N5.25bn,” he added.
