The federal government has initiated plans to connect schools across Nigeria to the internet. In a statement on Wednesday, Folasade Boriowo, director of press and public relations at the Ministry of Education, said the initiative was discussed at a high-level meeting involving Tunji Alausa, minister of education, and Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation, and Digital Economy.
She said the move was aimed at strengthening digital learning and expanding access to modern educational tools. Boriowo quoted Alausa as saying the initiative followed a directive by President Bola Tinubu to expand digital infrastructure across key sectors, including education.
Alausa said the initiative would help harness technology, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), to improve Nigeria’s education system and expand access to digital learning resources for students and teachers.
He underlined that the plan is to develop a coordinated framework to ensure connectivity across all levels of education, from foundational and secondary schools to universities and colleges.
According to him, the initiative would build on previous connectivity efforts through the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN), which supported broadband access for tertiary institutions under a World Bank-funded programme.
The minister said the earlier programme recorded progress in connecting universities but slowed after the initial funding cycle ended, necessitating a renewed and expanded strategy. He stated that the current effort seeks to revive the programme and extend internet connectivity across all levels of the education sector.
“Connectivity is not limited to broadband fibre alone. It also involves telecommunications towers, satellite systems and other digital infrastructure required to provide reliable internet access across the country,” the minister said.
Alausa said the federal government is deploying about 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic broadband infrastructure across the country.