The Federal Government has unveiled a nationwide school connectivity initiative designed to bring reliable internet access to classrooms across Nigeria and embed digital learning at every level of the education system.

The programme stems from President Bola Tinubu’s directive to accelerate the rollout of national digital infrastructure and ensure that education is a primary beneficiary of ongoing broadband and telecommunications investments.

To coordinate the effort, the Minister of Education, Maruf Alausa, and the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, met in Abuja with senior officials and technical experts from both ministries. The meeting focused on a joint framework to connect primary and secondary schools, as well as universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, to high-speed internet.

Alausa explained that the new drive builds on the Nigerian Research and Education Network, NgREN, which previously linked many tertiary institutions under a World Bank-supported project. That earlier momentum slowed when funding tapered off, he said, making it necessary to revive and significantly expand the scope to cover the entire education sector.

He stressed that connectivity would rely on a mix of technologies, including fibre optic cables, telecommunications towers and satellite systems, to guarantee coverage in both urban centres and remote communities.

According to the minister, government is already implementing large-scale infrastructure projects: about 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic broadband are being deployed nationwide, alongside roughly 3,700 telecommunications towers, many of them targeted at rural and underserved areas. Satellite capacity is also being expanded to reinforce coverage where terrestrial networks are weak.

Alausa said schools will be deliberately integrated into this expanding network, with planners instructed to route new broadband lines and towers in ways that directly serve educational institutions. He projected that the first phase of the initiative would deliver visible improvements in connectivity within months.

Improved access, he noted, will open classrooms to digital learning platforms, global academic resources and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. It will also underpin examination reforms, including a phased transition of major national tests like WAEC and NECO to full Computer-Based Testing, following the model already used by JAMB.

Tijani, for his part, pointed out that while Nigeria hosts about eight international subsea internet cables, the real challenge has been distributing that capacity inland. The ongoing fibre expansion, he said, is designed to extend broadband to every local government area, with rural towers sited near schools to ensure they benefit directly.

Both ministers reaffirmed that closer collaboration between the education and communications sectors is central to equipping Nigerian students with the digital skills needed in a technology-driven global economy and to improving access to quality learning nationwide.