Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has withdrawn from the contest to become deputy secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union. Tijani announced the decision on Friday, 11 September 2026, saying that after careful consideration he would remain focused on Nigeria's digital-transformation programme.
The decision ends Tijani's own candidacy before any ballot is held. President Bola Tinubu had formally nominated him on 5 May, and an ITU document dated 8 May registered Nigeria's candidate for the election scheduled at the union's Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha in November. No election result, defeat or removal is involved, and neither Tijani nor the government announced a replacement candidate in the first public accounts of the withdrawal.
The post would have placed a Nigerian among the ITU's elected officials for the first time in the organisation's 160-year history, according to Tijani's statement as reported by Punch. The ITU coordinates international work on telecommunications standards, spectrum and connectivity, giving its senior elected posts influence over global digital policy as well as institutional management.
Tijani said the more consequential work now lay at home. He named Project BRIDGE, the Nigeria Universal Communication Access Project, two proposed communications satellites, a national alphanumeric postcode system and Nigeria Web Design Standards among the programmes requiring his attention. Those references explain his stated priority; they do not show that every project is fully financed, under construction or delivered.
Project BRIDGE is the largest of the listed infrastructure commitments. The ministry describes it as a public-private vehicle intended to deploy at least 90,000 kilometres of open-access fibre and help bring Nigeria's national backbone to 120,000 kilometres. Its own project page presents a five-year rollout and major coverage, employment and economic benefits as expected outcomes, while separately listing technical studies, investment interest and funding commitments as progress already made.
The second connectivity programme, NUCAP, is designed to deploy 3,700 communications sites for rural broadband, public Wi-Fi, digital learning and related energy services in underserved communities across all 36 states. An April invitation sought private investors for a 10 per cent stake in a project company, requiring an investment of approximately $35 million. That document was a pre-qualification exercise, not proof that an investor had been selected or that all towers were operating.
Withdrawing from the deputy-secretary-general contest does not erase Tijani's other ITU roles. The ministry says he chaired the ITU Council in 2026 after serving as vice-chair in 2025. The public withdrawal concerns the November election for a different office; no statement reviewed for this report said he had resigned from the Council chairmanship or from Nigeria's cabinet.
The practical significance now shifts from international campaigning to domestic accountability. Nigerians can measure the minister's decision against concrete milestones: kilometres of fibre built, communities connected, financing converted into construction, satellites procured and public digital systems put into reliable use. For now, the confirmed development is a candidacy withdrawn and a renewed promise of focus—not completed infrastructure.
