{"id":327215,"date":"2025-10-23T19:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327215\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T19:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T19:29:14","slug":"only-23-of-rural-communities-have-internet-access-in-nigeria-ncc-raises-alarm-over-widening-digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/327215\/","title":{"rendered":"Only 23% of Rural Communities Have Internet Access in Nigeria \u2014 NCC Raises Alarm Over Widening Digital Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that only 23 percent of rural communities across Nigeria currently have access to the internet, compared to 57 percent of urban areas, underscoring the deepening digital divide between cities and rural settlements.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, made the disclosure on Wednesday in Lagos during the Rural Connectivity Summit, organised by the Rural Connectivity Initiative. He warned that the persistent disparity in internet access remains one of the country\u2019s greatest challenges to inclusive growth and national development.<\/p>\n

Delivering his keynote address titled \u201cLeaving Nobody Behind: Leveraging Regulatory Advantages to Bridge Nigeria\u2019s Digital Divide,\u201d Dr. Maida described the lack of digital connectivity in rural areas as not only a development challenge but also a national security concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cA community without digital connectivity is functionally invisible, cut off from modern education, healthcare, markets, and opportunity. This \u2018digital invisibility\u2019 is an unacceptable situation we must act decisively to end,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

The NCC boss noted that Nigeria\u2019s broadband penetration currently stands at 48.81 percent, and research has shown that a 10 percent increase in broadband penetration can boost national GDP by up to 1.38 percent, demonstrating that internet access is directly linked to economic growth and national competitiveness.<\/p>\n

To tackle the rural connectivity gap, Maida explained that the Commission, through its Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), has been implementing targeted interventions to expand digital access in underserved and unserved communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough programmes such as the Rural Broadband Initiative (RUBI) and the Accelerated Mobile Phone Expansion (AMPE), we are supporting infrastructure deployment in commercially non-viable areas,\u201d he said.
\u201cThe USPF has implemented more than 2,500 education projects and delivered over 100,000 computers to schools nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Maida further highlighted the NCC\u2019s efforts in promoting e-health and accessibility projects, which are connecting remote health centres to larger hospitals through telemedicine and providing assistive technologies for persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Commending progress made by several state governments on the issue of Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, the EVC noted that 11 states have adopted zero RoW charges, while 17 others have implemented the \u20a6145 per linear metre benchmark. He urged remaining states to follow suit to reduce the cost of broadband deployment and speed up infrastructure rollout.<\/p>\n

However, Maida expressed concern over the increasing rate of vandalism and theft targeting telecom facilities nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween January and August 2025 alone, operators recorded more than 19,000 fibre cuts and over 3,000 cases of equipment theft. These acts not only delay service delivery but also erode investments and degrade the quality of experience for millions of Nigerians,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n

Reaffirming the NCC\u2019s commitment to ensuring universal and meaningful connectivity, Dr. Maida called for collective action from government agencies, telecom operators, and host communities to protect telecom assets, accelerate broadband expansion, and unlock the full economic potential of rural Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnectivity is not just about internet speed\u2014it is about opportunity, inclusion, and national prosperity,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that only 23 percent of rural communities across Nigeria currently have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":327216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[712,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-327215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115425141235513640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}