ABUJA, Mar 25 – Nigeria will spend $6.1 million (8.4 billion naira) on consulting services to support the rollout of its national fibre expansion programme, according to a World Bank procurement report.
The contracts cover seven firms and five individual consultants engaged under the Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth (BRIDGE) Project, a $2 billion initiative aimed at expanding the country’s broadband backbone.
The project targets an increase in Nigeria’s fibre-optic network from 35,000 kilometres to 125,000 kilometres. The consulting roles span transaction advisory, legal compliance, technical planning and capacity development.
According to the procurement plan, the largest contracts are valued at $1.5 million each. One, for a transaction advisor, was signed on February 20, 2026, while another, supporting university-led digital economy research clusters, is still in progress.
Additional contracts include $750,000 for legal and regulatory advisory signed on February 19, 2026, and $850,000 for technical planning services, which remains under procurement. Other allocations cover environmental and social advisory at $750,000, supply chain strategy at $300,000, and skills assessment and training design at $150,000.
A further $348,000 has been set aside for individual consultants. While the project coordinator role has been filled, two positions have been cancelled, with others still underway.
The procurement process, scheduled from July 2025 to December 2026, is being managed through the World Bank’s STEP platform to ensure compliance with international standards.
The BRIDGE project has secured about $1.123 billion in funding so far, including $500 million from the International Development Association, $100 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and €22 million from the European Union.
