By 
Nigeria plans to have broadband internet connectivity in all its 774 local government areas (LGAs) within the next four years, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma, has revealed at a recent function in Lagos.
Nigeria has only about 23% broadband penetration and has a 30% target before yearend of 2018. “Under the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NBP), government envisages to have broadband blanket over the entire landmass of the country involving all LGAs.
The NBP provides a roadmap and milestones to deliver a five-fold increase in broadband penetration over a period of five years (2013 – 2018). It’s 30% target elapses next month.
Under the NBP, broadband services are expected to be available, accessible and affordable to all citizens in a way that will transform the Nigerian economy into a digital knowledge-based economy.
According to Udoma, while speaking at the 42nd Annual Conference of Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN), the federal government has designed with a master plan involving all critical stakeholders to provide internet for all Nigerians, particularly those in rural and sub-urban locations to access affordable broadband services.
He said “government has set up an Industrial Policy & Competitiveness Advisory Council (Industrial Council), with extensive private sector membership, as a vehicle for partnering with the private sector on the industrialization drive.”
He added that one of the initiatives under the Industrial Council is the plan to accelerate and expand broadband in all the 774 LGAs having identified broadband access as a critical element for industrialisation and citizens empowerment.
Broadband within the Nigerian context is defined as an internet experience where the user can access the most demanding content in real time at a minimum speed of 1.5Mbits/s The NBP regards broadband as a critical national infrastructure just like power, road and water networks.
The Nigeria’s Broadband Vision (Vision20:2020) considers accessible and affordable broadband a strategic requirement to enable Nigeria be among the Top Twenty World Economy by 2020.
“By 2020, Nigeria will have a large, strong, diversified, sustainable and competitive economy that effectively harnesses the talents and energies of its people and responsibly exploits its natural endowments to guarantee a high standard of living and quality of life to its citizens,” says the NBP report.
