The European Union has announced an additional €45 million investment to strengthen Nigeria’s digital economy, expanding its support under the EU–Nigeria Digital Economy Package.
The new funding agreement was signed in Brussels by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, and the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jozef Síkela, during the EU–Nigeria Digital Open Day.
In a statement on Thursday, the EU said the package completes its Digital Economy Programme for Nigeria and will deepen cooperation in digital infrastructure, skills and governance.
Síkela described the investment as a key element of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, emphasising its focus on open standards, skills transfer, data protection and digital security.
“Global Gateway is about delivering new opportunities, and the EU–Nigeria cooperation in the digital area has a very strong potential to do exactly that,” he said. “The new package will support modern e-public services and invest in the skills needed to prepare Nigeria’s youth for the digital future.”
Dr. Tijani said the initiative reflects a shared commitment to harness digital transformation for inclusive growth.
“The EU–Nigeria digital economy cooperation reflects our shared belief that digital transformation must provide a platform for growth in productivity driven by technology,” he stated. “Nigeria offers European businesses a market where talent, demand and policy alignment converge to support long-term investment and expansion.”
The newly signed programme includes flagship Global Gateway support for Project Bridge—Nigeria’s most ambitious digital infrastructure initiative—to deploy 90,000 km of fibre-optic backbone nationwide. The project is backed by loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
The €45 million grant will fund detailed network design, local skills development and supply-chain mobilisation through EU private-sector participation. It will also support equipment procurement and technical assistance for project rollout.
In addition, the EU programme will help modernise Nigeria’s public administration through secure, user-friendly digital services and provide targeted support for Nigeria’s nationwide digital-skills initiative. The goal is to train a new generation of technicians, engineers and IT specialists capable of maintaining and improving digital infrastructure.
The EU stressed that workforce readiness is essential to the success of large-scale digital projects. “Such systems can only work if the local workforce can maintain, operate and innovate on these networks,” the statement noted.
The EU–Nigeria Open Digital Day was held to provide European investors and suppliers with information on opportunities within the Nigerian digital ecosystem, particularly around Project Bridge. The estimated €1.7 billion project is expected to expand Nigeria’s fibre network to 125,000 km—a 70 percent increase—positioning it as Africa’s third-longest terrestrial fibre-optic system after Egypt and South Africa.
Digitalisation remains a core pillar of EU–Nigeria cooperation under the €820 million Digital Economy Package launched in 2022. Ongoing collaboration spans digital skills, entrepreneurship, e-governance, cybersecurity and connectivity.
Nigeria is regarded as one of Africa’s most dynamic digital markets, hosting the continent’s largest e-commerce ecosystem, employing an estimated 2.9 million people. It is also home to six of Africa’s eight unicorns, driven largely by the innovation ecosystem in Lagos.
The investment aligns with the EU’s Global Gateway initiative, which seeks to close global infrastructure gaps through secure, sustainable and transparent investments in digital, energy and transport sectors, as well as in health, education and research.
Global Gateway aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in public and private investment between 2021 and 2027 through a Team Europe approach that brings together EU institutions, member states and European development finance bodies.
