Nigeria has won a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group to fund a massive fiber-optic network expansion and digital skills initiative designed to spur job growth and bridge the country’s digital divide.
Dubbed the Digital Value Chain Infrastructure for Boosting Employment, or D-VIBE, the project calls for laying 90,000 kilometers of open-access fiber nationwide. That would more than triple Nigeria’s backbone network to 120,000 kilometers from 30,000 kilometers today.
The AfDB announced the approval Friday it will link all 774 local government areas including schools, hospitals, rural outposts and commercial centers to high-speed broadband.
Cross-border connections to neighboring countries are also in the works.
The $200 million AfDB loan anchors an $800 million sovereign financing package. It joins $500 million from the World Bank and $100 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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Overall funding could hit $2 billion, including a €22 million European Union grant, a $2.6 million project preparation grant from the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance, and at least $1.2 billion in private-sector investment.
Execution will unfold as a public-private partnership via a special-purpose vehicle, with private investors taking majority control. The setup targets rollout hurdles such as steep construction costs and right-of-way disputes.
“Nigeria has the talent, the market and the ambition. What it has lacked is the backbone infrastructure to connect that potential to opportunity,” said Abdul Kamara, the AfDB’s Director-General for Nigeria.
Beyond connectivity, D-VIBE will tackle adoption barriers with skills training, low-cost devices and digital platforms for key industries.
The AfDB projects as many as 2.8 million jobs over the project’s life and a jump in broadband penetration to 70% by 2030 from 45% now.
NewsQuest reports that the project aligns with Nigeria’s vision 2050, its National Development Plan and Renewed Hope Development Plan (2026-2030), the African Union’s Agenda 2063, and the African Development Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2024-2033).
