Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - Nigeria is in advanced discussions with Alphabet Inc.’s Google over the deployment of a new undersea cable aimed at strengthening the country’s digital resilience.
The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa,
disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg.
Google had earlier announced plans to roll out four new
infrastructure hubs in Africa to support its latest
undersea fibre optic cable systems on the continent.
Inuwa described Nigeria’s heavy reliance on undersea
cables that follow similar routes as a “single point of failure,” explaining
that disruptions along these paths could severely affect internet access and
digital services.
He said the government is seeking to augment
existing subsea links that connect Nigeria to Europe by adding new capacity and
alternative routes to improve resilience.
According to Bloomberg, a Google spokesperson confirmed that
talks with Nigeria are at an advanced stage but declined to provide further
details.
Broader push to strengthen
digital infrastructure
Inuwa said Nigeria is also engaging other global technology
companies as part of a wider strategy to expand its digital infrastructure.
Beyond improved connectivity, the country is seeking
increased investment in cloud computing and high-performance computing capacity
to support the adoption of advanced digital tools.
He added that such investments could help position Nigeria
as a regional digital hub, improve internet access nationwide, and drive
economic activity in Africa’s most populous country.
Nigeria has experienced several internet outages linked
to damage to subsea cables in recent years.
In March last year, several businesses were paralysed for
days due to an internet outage caused by damage to international
undersea cables supplying the country with connectivity.
The damage that occurred near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire
affected major undersea cables connecting Nigeria, including the West Africa
Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3.
To avoid a repeat of that scenario, Nigeria had called
for a coordinated and multilateral approach by the West African region to
protect shared telecommunications infrastructure and diversify connectivity to
ensure uninterrupted connections.
Nigeria is a major hub for undersea cables, hosting at least
eight major systems: MainOne, SAT-3/WASC, Glo-2, ACE, WACS, Equiano,
2Africa, and NCSCS, landing in areas like Lagos and Akwa Ibom.
These cables, including Google’s Equiano and Meta’s 2Africa,
bring massive data capacity, foster 4G/5G growth, and support new data centres,
transforming Nigeria’s digital landscape.
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