Abuja, Nigeria — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally nominated Minister Tijani (full name per official submission) for confirmation as Chairman of the Board of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), the body mandated to expand telecom and broadband access to underserved and rural communities. The nomination, transmitted to the National Assembly, positions the USPF to resume an active role in the government’s digital inclusion agenda pending Senate confirmation.
The President’s office said the nominee brings experience the administration considers relevant for accelerating rural connectivity and ensuring that USPF projects yield measurable social and economic returns. The Senate Committee on Communications and Digital Economy will schedule a screening that will probe the nominee’s vision for bridging Nigeria’s digital divide, governance reforms at the USPF and strategies to leverage public-private partnerships and donor funding.
Industry players said they are watching the confirmation closely because a fully constituted, effective USPF board is central to unlocking funds for last-mile broadband, rural towers, community networks and digital skills training. Civil society groups urged that confirmation hearings should include clear commitments to transparency, competitive procurement and independent monitoring to avoid politicisation of grant awards.
If confirmed, the new chairman will inherit an agency that must reconcile ambitious connectivity targets with fiscal discipline and ensure communities receive services that can be sustained beyond initial deployment — a challenge national policymakers say is essential to Nigeria’s economic diversification and inclusive growth.
