Nigeria At 66: The Digital Economy Behind The Next Phase Of Growth – Experts - The Guardian Nigeria News

NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida.

NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida.

Nigeria’s next phase of economic growth is increasingly being shaped by infrastructure that is largely invisible to the public but now supports commerce, financial transactions, government services, manufacturing, trade and millions of everyday economic activities.

As Nigeria marks 66 years of independence, the scale of that digital infrastructure has expanded sharply. Broadband subscriptions reached 124.42 million in July 2026, compared with 104.07 million a year earlier, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Data consumption also rose from about 1.13 million terabytes in July 2025 to 1.66 million terabytes in July 2026, representing growth of nearly 47 per cent.

The numbers reflect a change in how Nigerians work, trade, communicate and access services, while placing greater demands on the infrastructure supporting the digital economy.

At the Nigeria Digital Connectivity Investment Forum in Abuja, NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, said the investment challenge was no longer limited to extending network coverage.

“The investment challenge before us is not merely one of expanding coverage,” Maida said, stressing the need for better service quality, user experience and infrastructure capable of supporting future technologies.

Maida said Nigeria’s experience with GSM rollout over the past 25 years demonstrated how policy reforms, transparent licensing and private-sector investment could expand telecommunications access.

That 25-year journey coincides with the period in which mobile connectivity moved from being primarily a communications service to becoming part of the infrastructure supporting Nigeria’s wider economy.

For the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the implications extend beyond telecommunications.

Minister Jumoke Oduwole said digital connectivity had become an important component of the investment climate, business competitiveness and international trade. She pointed to fibre networks, data centres, cloud infrastructure, digital platforms, electronic payments and secure data systems as infrastructure increasingly required for the movement of goods, services, capital and information.

A business that receives orders online, accepts electronic payments, communicates with suppliers, stores information in the cloud or sells into another market depends on the underlying network and digital systems remaining available.

That dependence is also reflected in government’s infrastructure plans. The Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy has described connectivity challenges as structural, citing years of underinvestment and constraints on operators.

Its long-term response includes Project BRIDGE, a nationwide open-access fibre infrastructure programme, alongside tower deployment through NUCAP and expansion of satellite capability.

For businesses, the economic effect is increasingly measurable at the operational level.

Energy expert and entrepreneur Dare Osamo, Chief Executive Officer of Impact Energy, recently linked the consequences of damaged telecom infrastructure directly to everyday economic activity.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Business Morning, he said fibre cuts could disrupt POS transactions, mobile banking, businesses and other digital services, while the immediate cost of restoring damaged infrastructure is generally carried by network operators.

Osamo argued that fibre infrastructure should not be regarded simply as an asset belonging to telecommunications companies because banking, commerce and other activities depend on it.

His argument comes against the backdrop of more than 5,000 fibre-cut incidents recorded across Nigeria in the first six months of 2026, according to figures cited by the NCC. Road construction, excavation and other civil works were identified among the major causes.

Technology entrepreneur and public analyst Israel Ihaza has similarly argued that the economic importance of fibre infrastructure is often underestimated because much of it is underground and therefore largely invisible.

Speaking on the TVC Breakfast Show, Ihaza said damage to fibre could affect businesses, healthcare facilities, banks, schools, government offices and security services. He specifically pointed to small traders dependent on POS terminals as an example of how a connectivity disruption can immediately become a business disruption.

The growing dependence on connectivity also raises the importance of network investment by telecommunications companies themselves.

MTN Nigeria provides one illustration of how the industry has evolved over the past quarter-century. The company began commercial operations in Nigeria in 2001, at the beginning of the country’s GSM era, and its business has since expanded across mobile connectivity, broadband, enterprise services, data infrastructure and fintech.

Its 2025 results showed data revenue rising by 74.2 per cent, while data traffic increased by 34 per cent and average data usage per subscriber rose by 20 per cent to 13.08GB.

MTN also reported 84.6 per cent 4G population coverage and continued investment in fixed connectivity, enterprise services, its data centre and cloud marketplace.

The wider market shows the scale of that transformation. NCC figures put total active telecommunications subscriptions at 195.11 million in July 2026, with broadband penetration reaching 57.4 per cent. MTN accounted for 100.86 million mobile subscriptions during the month.

The shift is also visible in fibre-to-the-home and other fixed broadband services. NCC data for the second quarter of 2026 recorded 319,735 fibre-to-the-X subscriptions, with MTN accounting for 176,468.

These developments place telecommunications at the intersection of connectivity, financial services, enterprise technology, cloud computing, digital trade and remote work. As more economic activity moves onto digital platforms, interruptions in the underlying network can produce consequences far beyond the telecommunications sector.

Maida has called for stronger investor confidence and regulatory clarity to attract the long-term capital required to close Nigeria’s digital infrastructure gap.

The NCC has also pointed to measures including engagement with states on Right of Way issues and the designation of telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure.

For Nigeria at 66, the significance of the digital economy is increasingly tied to what happens beneath the applications and services consumers see.

The mobile phone, POS terminal, online marketplace, cloud application and digital payment all depend on networks, fibre, data centres, power systems, spectrum and other infrastructure working together.

Nigeria’s next phase of economic growth will require not only more people and businesses to come online, but continued investment in the infrastructure that allows them to remain connected, transact, produce and compete.

The 25-year telecommunications journey has demonstrated the economic possibilities of connectivity; the challenge now is to build the depth, capacity and resilience required to support a much larger digital economy.