The European Commission and Nigeria signed a €45 million program, completing the EU Digital Economy Package for Nigeria at the EU-Nigeria Digital Open Day in Brussels.
This program was inked by the Nigerian Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, and the European Commissioner for International Partnerships Jozef Síkela. The package will further support the cooperation in the digital sector between Nigeria and the European Union.
Speaking on the development, Jozef Síkela, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, said: “Global Gateway is about delivering new opportunities, and the EU-Nigerian cooperation in the digital area has a very strong potential to do exactly that.
“Our approach to digitalization is based on skills transfer, open standards, data protection, privacy, and security. This way, we make sure that technologies truly enrich human lives.
“The new package will take our efforts even further by supporting modern e-public services and investing in the skills that will prepare Nigeria’s youth for the digital future.”
On his part, Bosun Tijani, Nigerian Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, said: The EU–Nigeria digital economy cooperation reflects our shared belief that digital transformation must provide a platform for growth in productivity driven by technology.
“As part of this, Project Bridge provides a commercially sustainable entry point for European investors and suppliers to participate in deploying an open-access fibre network at scale.
Combined with our leadership in Artificial Intelligence, Digital Public Infrastructure, and programs such as three million Technical Talents, Nigeria offers European businesses a market where talent, demand and policy alignment converge to support longterm investment and expansion.
The investment includes a flagship Global Gateway support to the Project Bridge that aims to deploy 90,000 km of fibre-optic backbone across Nigeria. This project is the country’s most ambitious digital investment supported by loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank, and African Development Bank.
Additionally, the grant supports the preparation of this strategic project with technical assistance and equipment in three complementary ways: for the detailed fiber optic network design, for local skills development ,and for the supply chain deployment with the mobilization of the EU private sector.
The EU program will also contribute to modernizing Nigeria’s public administration through secure, user-friendly digital services.
It also involves targeted support for Nigeria’s nationwide digital-skills programme, helping train a new generation of technicians, engineers and IT specialists. This is to create new jobs, because large-scale digital projects can only work if the local workforce can maintain, operate, and innovate on these networks.
