Abeokuta, Ogun State — The federal government will deploy 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic broadband across Nigeria in a nationwide push to deepen connectivity and spur growth, Senate Committee Chairman on ICT and Cybersecurity, Sen. Shuaib Afolabi Salisu, said on Monday.
Speaking at the opening of the 2025 Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Council, Salisu said the plan is designed to deliver fibre presence “in every ward,” adding that studies show a 10% rise in fibre penetration can lift GDP growth by at least 2%.
“We are at the cusp of another revolution,” he said, likening the moment to the liberalisation era of 1998/99. He noted that government is courting private capital alongside public investment: “We don’t want this to just be government infrastructure alone; we want private sector participation so it comes with corporate governance.”
Salisu said the National Assembly is advancing an omnibus National Digital Economy and E-Government Bill to modernise legacy statutes and legally equate digital with physical records and signatures. He added that the digital economy’s share of GDP has climbed from under 1% in the late 1990s to nearly 20%, but remains short of potential without legal and infrastructure upgrades.
On artificial intelligence, Salisu highlighted Nigeria’s National AI Strategy, developed via an open “AI Collective” portal, which he said has been recognised globally. He urged newsrooms to treat AI as “an enabler, not a replacer,” warning it could also fuel “quackery” if standards slip. Journalism schools, he argued, must embed technology in curricula, while working journalists pursue continuous capacity building. He also flagged ongoing work to repeal and re-enact the Cybercrime law, balancing free expression with national security, and called for industry self-regulation: “Create standards and codes of conduct so audiences can tell professional outlets from pretenders.”
In a keynote, Ogun State Head of Service, Kehinde Onasanya, said Nigeria lacks clear rules for disclosing AI-generated content in text, images, audio and video, urging the NUJ to publish a widely adopted code of practice.
NUJ Ogun chairman Wale Olanrewaju said AI is reshaping newsgathering and distribution. “Our responsibility is to prepare our members not just to adapt, but to lead… and ensure technology enhances credibility rather than diminishes it.”
Salisu did not disclose a deployment timeline, but said the administration has been pitching the fibre programme to investors following the UN General Assembly.
