#WeekInReview: Full Week Recap of Activities of the Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani (Vol. 117)

Back to About Us > #WeekInReview: Full Week Recap of Activities of the Honourable Minister, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani (Vol. 117)

Posted on:

February 25, 2026

INTRO

Last week was dedicated to the Nordic leg of our Project BRIDGE Investor Roadshow, a strategic engagement across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to deepen institutional partnerships, unlock blended finance, and position Nigeria’s 90,000km fibre backbone expansion as a bankable, future-facing infrastructure opportunity.

Project BRIDGE is not merely a connectivity programme, it is foundational economic infrastructure. As we scale Nigeria’s digital backbone, our focus remains on mobilising long-term capital, integrating sustainable energy solutions, strengthening public sector digital transformation, and aligning infrastructure expansion with AI-driven innovation and job creation.

Across the four countries, our engagements spanned governments, export credit agencies, development finance institutions, infrastructure companies, AI research centres, and telecommunications leaders. The objective was clear: move from conversations to structured financing pathways that translate confidence in Nigeria’s digital economy into tangible capital deployment.

TIMELINE

Monday, February 16 – NORWAY – Advancing research and development partnerships

The Nordic leg of the Project BRIDGE Investor Roadshow kicked-off in Oslo, Norway where the Honourable Minister met with the Rector, Ragnhild Hennum and Faculty member, Solveig Kristensen, of the University of Norway (UiO). At the University, they had robust discussions with representatives of key organisations including Alexander Klein from the Norwegian Agency of Development (NORAD), and Vegard Benterud, Investment Director at NORFUND. The Nigerian delegation witnessed research presentation by the Ole-Christian Lingjaere, Head of Department, Faculty of Informatics on their study around AI and capacity building, and another policy brief presentation delivered by Henrik Urdal, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Research Professor. Discussions at thee UiO sessions centred around infrastructure financing, green energy solutions, AI collaboration, research, job creation, knowledge exchange, and long-term investment partnerships.
Later in the day, the delegation was hosted to a dinner session by H.E Ambassador Svein Bæra, Norway’s Ambassador to Nigeria.

Tuesday, February 17 – NORWAY – Deepening digital governance and investment dialogue

Dr. Tijani met with the Norwegian Minister for Digitalisation & Public Governance, Karianne Tung, to discuss public sector digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence, connectivity infrastructure, and the role of sustainable energy in powering the technologies of the future.
The Nigerian delegation later met with Norwegian companies including Lærdal Global Medical, Accelerate Capital, Altera Infrastructure, and Abelia, to explore investment and business opportunities in Nigeria. The engagement was organised by the Norwegian African Business Association (NABA). The Honourable Minister is especially thankful to Carina Hundhammer and Ambassador Svein Bæra for curating an excellent series of meetings and conversations to ensure a truly impactful Oslo leg of the roadshow.

Wednesday, February 18 – SWEDEN – Mobilising telecoms and blended finance partners

The delegation began the Sweden leg of the Project BRIDGE Investment Roadshow with a productive meeting with the team from Hexatronic and Ericsson on potential participation in Project BRIDGE, exploring how Swedish expertise in fibre infrastructure and telecommunications can contribute to Nigeria’s 90,000km backbone expansion project. The team from Hexatronic was led by its Deputy CEO, Martin Åberg.
They later met with Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration, H.E. Erik Slottner, where discussions focused on deepening cooperation in digital transformation. Sweden’s newly launched Digitalisation Strategy, alongside its forthcoming national AI Strategy, reflects a policy direction that aligns closely with Nigeria’s own ambitions. They also discussed Sweden’s push to accelerate AI adoption across the public sector, a priority area for Nigeria as we strengthen public service delivery through technology.
On the financing side, the Honourable Minister engaged members of the Business Sweden team, including Swedfund, SIDA, the Swedish Export Credit Corporation, and the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board on blended finance, risk guarantees and export credit structures that can unlock scalable capital for Project BRIDGE. The meeting was attended by representatives of Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Pia Roed, Dario Jovic, and Annika Jacobsson.
Next was a meeting with representatives of Ericsson led by Peter Kvist, Senior Director and Head of Government and Policy Advocacy. The engagement was hosted by Amb. Johan Frisell, Head of the Department for Africa, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Finally, the Honourable Minister met with AI Sweden, where discussions focused on change management in public sector AI adoption and possible collaborations on similar initiatives in Nigeria. AI Sweden team had Martin Svensson, CEO/Senior Advisor and Ewa Thorslund, Senior Advisor. Grateful to the Swedish Embassy in Nigeria, represented by Fredrik Ahsberg, Head of Political and Trade Affairs, for supporting and facilitating the Nigerian delegation’s engagements, and ensuring the success of the roadshow in Sweden.

BLUEPRINT ALIGNMENT

Infrastructure

Through the Nordic Project BRIDGE Investor Roadshow, the Honourable Minister advanced the Infrastructure pillar of our Strategic Blueprint by mobilising export credit agencies, development finance institutions and telecom leaders to structure scalable financing for Nigeria’s 90,000km fibre backbone expansion. By integrating green energy, blended finance, and equipment financing solutions into our engagements, we are ensuring that connectivity expansion is not only ambitious but financially sustainable and investment-ready.

Innovation & Policy

Dr. Tijani’s engagements with Ministers, AI research institutions, and digital governance leaders across the Nordics strengthened alignment around AI adoption, public sector digitalisation, data exchange platforms, and responsible innovation frameworks. By connecting Project BRIDGE with AI strategy, public digital services, and talent development through initiatives such as #3MTT, we continue to ensure that infrastructure deployment directly supports productivity, job creation, and Nigeria’s long-term digital competitiveness.

Thursday, February 19 – FINLAND – Structuring export credit and equipment financing

Next on the list for the Roadshow was Finland where Dr. Tijani met with representatives of Nokia led by Karol Mattila, the company’s Head of Government Relations Nokia Finland, Baltics, Nordics, and Ukraine.
After this, they were hosted by H.E. Jarno Syrjala, Under-Secretary of State for International Trade. Their discussions centred around deepening collaboration between Finnish companies and our Ministry, particularly around the Data Exchange Platform as well as supporting the participation of Finnish companies in Project BRIDGE.
The delegation’s engagements in Helsinki were further strengthened by substantive discussions with Finnvera, Finland’s Export Credit Agency, and Finnfund, the country’s development and impact investment institution, both of whom have meaningful exposure to telecommunications and digital infrastructure. These conversations were forward-looking and solutions-oriented, exploring practical approaches to export credits, blended finance and equipment financing structures that can support scalable deployment on Project BRIDGE. The Honourable Minister expresses his sincere appreciation to the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Sanna Selin, for laying the groundwork for an exceptionally productive day and for her strong commitment to ensuring that engagements convert into tangible outcomes.

Friday, February 20 – DENMARK – Aligning green data infrastructure and AI partnerships in Denmark

The Honourable Minister began the Denmark leg of the Roadshow with a meeting with the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), whose export credit mandate makes it a key enabler of Danish participation in Project BRIDGE. With over $1.6billion committed across Africa, EIFO’s interest signals real confidence in Nigeria’s long-term digital infrastructure vision.
Following this, he engaged with Lars Bo Bertram, CEO of the Investment Fund Denmark (IFDK) and his team to further reinforce alignment, particularly given their presence in Nigeria and dedicated capital for sustainable and green energy investments — an important complement to our connectivity expansion with Project BRIDGE.
The delegation then had a high level thematic meeting, exploring how Denmark built one of the world’s most attractive ecosystems for green, secure and investment-ready data centres — and which elements of this can translate to Nigeria’s fast-growing market.
At Digital Hub Denmark, they explored collaboration around data centres, green energy integration and the importance of a strong national data strategy. The team also explored how Denmark built one of the world’s most attractive ecosystems for green, secure and investment-ready data centres, and which elements of this can translate to Nigeria’s fast-growing market.
Dr. Tijani also engaged CAISA – the Danish National Centre for AI in Society, whose work at the intersection of AI research, policy and societal application presents meaningful opportunities for partnership on responsible AI deployment.
A fitting close to the visit to Copenhagen was a meeting with Denmark’s Acting Minister of Digital Affairs, H.E. Christina Egelund. Their conversation covered AI industry support, public sector adoption, citizen trust through digital services, and talent collaboration, particularly the natural synergy between Denmark’s student exchange ambitions and our #3MTT programme. The Honourable Minister extends his deep appreciation to the Danish Embassy in Nigeria represented by Sara Ibru, Commercial Deputy Head, Strategic Project Lead, Trade Advisor on Tech and Digitalisation, for their support in ensuring that the engagements in Denmark were purposeful and impactful.

Posted on:

February 25, 2026