Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has issued a strong warning to telecom operators, demanding immediate action to fix the country’s long-standing network and service failures.
In a statement released on Sunday, May 10, 2026, Tijani said operators such as MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and T2 must urgently address the persistent poor network quality affecting millions of users across the country.
He stressed that government reforms have already created a more stable operating environment, and it is now up to the telecom companies to deliver better service to Nigerians.
“It is now the responsibility of telecom operators such as MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and T2 to take all necessary steps to resolve network challenges and deliver the level of service Nigerians expect,” he said.
Tijani explained that when the current administration took office, it identified Nigeria’s connectivity problems as structural — caused by years of underinvestment in infrastructure and limitations that weakened service delivery.
According to him, the government has responded with both long-term infrastructure plans and immediate reforms aimed at stabilising the sector.
On long-term solutions, he said funding has been secured with support from the World Bank, alongside the creation of a special-purpose vehicle under Project BRIDGE to build nationwide open-access fibre infrastructure.
He added that fibre rollout will begin alongside new telecom tower deployments through NUCAP before the end of the year, with expanded satellite capacity also in development.
“These investments are expected to address the foundational gaps in our digital infrastructure over the next two to five years and permanently transform connectivity across Nigeria,” Tijani said.
He also noted that the goal is to make reliable high-speed internet widely accessible, saying small businesses should be able to access stable fibre connections directly from their homes or shops, rather than relying on weak mobile networks or dongles.
On immediate reforms, Tijani listed several policy actions taken by the government, including tariff adjustments, designation of telecom infrastructure as critical national infrastructure, tax reforms, and broader economic measures such as fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate liberalisation.
He said these steps have helped stabilise the sector and return telecom companies to profitability, giving them the capacity to invest in better service delivery.
Tijani insisted that with improved financial stability and a more enabling environment, operators now have no excuse for poor network performance.
He added that the Nigerian Communications Commission has been fully empowered to monitor compliance, enforce service standards, and hold operators accountable without interference.
According to him, the government will rely on regular reports from the regulator as well as public complaints to drive enforcement and improvement across the sector.
He expressed confidence that Nigerians should begin to see real improvements in call quality, data speed, and network coverage in the coming months.
“Where operators deliver, it will be recognised, and where they do not, the Commission is expected to take appropriate regulatory action,” he said.
Tijani concluded by stressing that Nigerians deserve better value for money spent on telecom services, insisting that the industry must now deliver measurable improvements in quality of service.
