Nigeria’s First Rural Connectivity Summit Calls For Infrastructure Sharing And Collaborations

Nigeria held its first Rural Connectivity Summit on Wednesday, October 22, 2025, bringing together policymakers, stakeholders, and thought leaders to develop practical solutions that can bridge the divide in the country’s rural areas.

The event, themed “Rethinking Digital Connectivity to Unlock Rural Economic Potential,” focused on scaling infrastructure that can support commerce, education, health and basic services beyond urban centres.

The Rural Connectivity Summit opened with a call to treat connectivity as an economic enabler rather than a technical box to be checked.

Speakers generally reiterated that without coordinated action on power, backhaul and shared infrastructure, millions of people will remain on the wrong side of the digital divide even as cities modernise.

The convener and Partnership Coordinator of the summit, Omobayo Azeez, in his welcome address, asserted that the summit is a dedicated effort to one of Nigeria’s most urgent challenges and also one of the greatest opportunities to bridge the country’s digital divide to promote inclusion and drive socio-economic growth.

“Today’s gathering is more than just another event or just a gathering on the technology calendar.
It is, in truth, a national call to action, a call to confront the realities that continue to hold millions of Nigerians back from participating fully in the country’s digital economy”

According to Azeez, official data has it that more than 20 million Nigerians still lack any form of access to connectivity.

“That number is not just a statistic. It represents families, farmers, teachers, traders and health workers, people who remain cut off from the transformative power of ICT.”

To further put this in another perspective, the Convener revealed that the particular figure is more than the population of more than the surrounding populations of about 30 African countries.

Currently, we have more than 30 countries in Africa whose population is below 20 million. So this shows the magnitude of the concern of the unserved and underserved population in the country.

I must say that from all indications, this problem is not a question of capabilities because we believe the technologies to accelerate digital inclusion exist. Also, the operators and investors are ready, and in fact the opportunities are also there.”

Azeez noted that the real challenge, however, lies in the political country’s lack of policy consistency and coordinated commitment.

“Rural connectivity must become a deliberate national priority in Nigeria and we should stop seeing it as just a footnote in our development agenda.

Connectivity is more than cables and towers. It is access to education, health care, markets, governments and to various opportunities. Everyone unconnected, community represented, lost potential of a student who cannot learn remotely, a farmer who cannot access the market prices, a clinic that cannot receive telemedicine and intermedical support.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we gather here today, let us remember, connectivity is no longer a luxury; it is not a lifeline; it is the lifeline. It is the foundation on which modern economies are built and the key to inclusive growth.”, Azeez added.

Delivering the keynote speech, the EVC/CEO of The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, was ably represented by NCC Zonal Controller (Lagos), Mr Tunji Jimoh set a hard-edged tone:

“Ladies and gentlemen, the accurate measure of connectivity is not in megabits per second, but in economic value it creates or loses,” the zonal head said, reading the keynote on the NCC boss’s behalf.

“For the industrialist, the miner, the entrepreneur, and our security services, connectivity is an indispensable enabler. When it fails, opportunities stall, and lives can be at risk.”

The speech, titled Incentivising Digital Infrastructure Deployment as the Backbone of Successful Rural Connectivity, tied digital inclusion to national development and security, and laid out specific targets and policy tools the NCC says it will use to accelerate progress.

The address cited hard numbers to underline the scale of the challenge. “As of August 2025, Nigeria’s broadband penetration stands at about 48.81%,” the zonal head said.

The keynote also referenced the ITU’s ICT Development Index, noting that Nigeria’s IDI score improved to 52.9 for 2025 from 46.9 the year before, but still lags many peers.

“A community without digital connectivity is functionally invisible,” he said, arguing that universal and meaningful connectivity must be the end goal.

The NCC outlined a catalogue of interventions already in play through its Universal Service Provision Fund. “Since 2007, the USPF has invested in over 2,500 education projects, delivering more than 100,000 computers to schools nationwide,” the speech noted, and highlighted a recent example: the Emerging Technology Center at Ogun State Institute of Technology, where more than 9,000 students now access high-end computing resources.

The regulator was blunt about headwinds. The keynote quoted sector statistics for January to August 2025: about 19,384 fibre cuts, 3,241 equipment thefts and more than 19,000 denials of access to sites.

Those disruptions, the speaker said, have prompted new policy responses, including a presidential order on Critical National Information Infrastructure and state-level moves to lower right-of-way fees. “Our advocacy has led to 11 states offering zero charges,” he said, adding that another 17 states have capped fees at 145 naira per linear metre.

On policy levers, the NCC signalled a softer, more experimental approach to regulation. The speech previewed a draft general authorisation framework introduced earlier in July, designed to permit proof-of-concept trials, regulatory sandboxes and interim service authorisations that let innovators test services without waiting for full licensing.

The keynote also emphasised community-led models. “A key pillar of our approach is supporting community-level networks, which empower local communities to build and manage their own connectivity solutions,” the zonal head said.

The NCC said it will continue to scale public-private partnerships, citing its Impact Alliance Partnership with industry, civil society and international partners as a model for co-investment.

Industry representatives at the summit welcomed the regulator’s focus on practical enablers such as rights of way and infrastructure protection, but warned that policy promises must be matched by funding and streamlined processes.

The keynote ended on a call to urgency. “With a population of over 200 million and a median age of 18, our youth and entrepreneurial population is our greatest asset,” the zonal head said. “We can surpass others if we keep these youths, irrespective of their geography, with reliable, affordable and high-speed connectivity.”

In his opening “Introductory Insight,” Dr Olusola offered a forceful assessment of past efforts and current barriers, arguing that policy, technology and local ownership must align to make rural connectivity sustainable.

Dr Olusola framed the debate by recalling earlier government schemes and the technology transitions that followed. He said in part:

“We have had the government attempt to address some of these issues via Wired Nigeria. The SAVI programme, that’s the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative, if anyone remembers that. These are mid-2000 initiatives which were meant to address this digital divide.

“I remember back then, broadband was not pervasive. We were still on satellites, still using. I can remember that CDMA was still alive, one of the best in terms of data transmission, the EVDO platform. And there were some ISPs that were playing around with WiMAX.

“In the IPNX case, we obviously were able to provide connectivity using our WiMAX technology over paid-for spectrum. ISPs have had to really fork out a lot of money on spectrum. And there was obviously an initiative by the regulator to make access, universal access service licenses available to the MNOs.

“We will not go into the wars that happened between CDMA and GSM, that’s in the past. GSM is now 35 years as an operating technology. But we may need to look at the reality.

“And the reality is that, essentially, the ISPs that I’ve been focusing on last mile, which is fixed broadband, and MNOs with the ability to deploy their pervasive network or mobile infrastructure, have been able to touch the lives and change the lives of many amongst us.

But those really are those who can afford the services, both in terms of the devices and the data that they need to put on those devices to be able to have meaningful connectivity and access. And that is the conundrum, really.”

Dr Olusola did not shy away from a sober accounting of funding shortfalls. He cited international estimates of an infrastructure funding gap and questioned whether concessional finance alone could close it.

“Relying on international finance institutions for concessionary loans, even if it is based on one percent over 40 years, does not scratch the surface,” he said.

He also returned repeatedly to the twin problems of supply and demand. On the supply side, he argued that fibre remains the most reliable medium for high-quality access, while satellite and other new entrants can be complementary but are not substitutes for on-the-ground infrastructure.

On demand, he pointed to affordability and digital skills as decisive barriers. “At the end of the day, we can have an infrastructure supply, and those citizens and communities will not use them,” he said, urging more attention to uptake programs and community-based models.

Dr Olusola promoted community networks as a practical, bottom-up approach. “Community networks are actually a viable solution,” he said. He recommended local ownership, cheaper equipment procurement, and integration with off-grid power solutions such as solar plus batteries to solve the chronic power gap that hampers rural deployments.

He cited IPNX’s work in Abia State as one example of private networks extending beyond metropolitan areas and relying on hybrid power approaches.

On policy, he called for a national digital strategy that aligns federal targets with state-level priorities, warning against stop-start politics.

“We need a strategy that is coherent with the aspirations of governments at the state level,” he said, noting that four-year election cycles often undercut long-term projects.

Other speakers at the summit included Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, National Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria; Dr Tola Yusuf, Co-founder, Infratel Africa; Dr Abba Aliyu, MD/CEO, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Mr Abiola Jimoh, Co-founder/Co-CEO, XCHANGEBOX.

Edge data centres and shared infrastructure took centre stage in the first panel session, titled Mainstreaming Edge Infrastructure for Accelerated Digital Inclusion, which was focused on investment, collaboration, infrastructure protection, government support, sustainability and long-term revenue.

Moderated by Mr Chidi Ajuzie, the panellists included Dr Ayotunde Coker, CEO, Open Access Data Centre (OADC); Mr Wole Abu, MD, Equinix West Africa (MainOne); Dr Krish Ranganath, Regional Executive (West Africa), Africa Data Centres and Goke Juba, Associate Director, Fibre Operations, IHS Nigeria

The summit’s Big Dialogue session examined Infrastructure Sharing and Collaborations as Key Pillars of Bridging the Digital Divide.

The panellists on the Big Dialogue include Mr Tony Emoekpere, President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON); Dr Tola Yusuf, Co-Founder, Infratel Africa; Segun Okuneye, Divisional CEO, ipNX Nigeria Limited; Onemeguke Azubuike Lucky, Senior Analyst, Natcom Development and Investment Limited (ntel); Olumide Idowu, Group Chief Technology & Information Officer, Alphabeta LLC; John Nwachukwu, Chief Strategy/Executive Officer, Zoracom; Dr Isa Usman, Associate Director, Network Operations, GICL. It was moderated by Louisa Olaniyi, the Compere

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