The Federal Government has approved the sum of N24.2 billion for the provision of internet at airports, institutions of learning and markets across the country.
20 airports are expected to benefit from the project which got the nod at the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who disclosed this also revealed that Institutions of learning and markets were listed as other beneficiaries.
He said the contract sum of the project was over N24 billion, to be delivered in 5 months.
The Minister explained that the just-approved provision of free WiFi to the tertiary institutions was the 2nd phase of the previous approval for the unlimited provision of the service to 18 tertiary institutions, bringing the total of the beneficiaries to 63.
“In each geopolitical zone, you have around three airports. In the south-west, we have Lagos and Ondo. For the south-east, we have Anambra and Enugu.
“For the south-south, we have Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom. For the north-central we have Abuja and Ilorin. In the north-west, we have Kano, Sokoto and Kebbi. For the north-east we have Yola, Maiduguri and Gombe.”
The provision of the service to the 6 markets, according to the minister, was to complement an earlier approval of the service to 20 markets across the country.
“The second memo is for the provision of broadband to selected markets. Six markets are going to benefit from this and the price is N5.25 billion.”
He also added, “The importance of broadband network cannot be over emphasised as it helps In the efficiency and interconnectivity of police, fire, health and other government entities that protect the public in both day-to-day and crisis situations.
“It will help in rapid disaster response systems, effective early warning and public alert systems, disaster preparation programs, remote security monitoring and backup systems for public safety communications networks.”
