ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, has withdrawn his candidacy for the office of Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), stepping back from what would have been a historic bid to lead the United Nations specialised agency in order to focus on executing national digital infrastructure projects, the minister announced on Friday, September 11, 2026.
The voluntary withdrawal comes four months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, formally nominated Tijani in a diplomatic letter dated May 5, 2026, addressed to ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin ahead of the union’s quadrennial Plenipotentiary Conference scheduled for November 2026 in Doha, Qatar.
Okay News reports that the decision halts Nigeria’s campaign to have an indigenous technocrat elected to executive leadership within the 160-year-old global telecommunications body for the first time in its institutional history.
Disclosing the development in a public statement released via his verified LinkedIn profile, Dr. Tijani explained that while the multilateral position presented an extraordinary diplomatic milestone for the nation, the scale and urgency of Nigeria’s domestic digital reforms required his undivided administrative presence.
“The opportunity was undoubtedly attractive, both personally and for Nigeria, as it would have presented the historic prospect of a Nigerian serving as one of the ITU’s elected officials for the first time in its 160-year history,” Tijani said. “However, I believe the most consequential contribution I can make at this time is to remain focused on the critical work before us at home.”
The minister explained that his decision was driven by the imperative to accelerate the delivery of high-impact technology and telecommunications programmes under the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, shifting federal focus from policy formulation to on-the-ground infrastructure deployment.
Headlining these domestic priorities is Project BRIDGE, an ambitious national backbone initiative designed to lay 90,000 kilometres of open-access terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to bridge the country’s digital divide and expand broadband access.
Tijani also emphasized the execution of the Nigeria Universal Connectivity Access Programme (NUCAP), which aims to extend voice and mobile broadband coverage to millions of citizens across unserved rural communities through the construction of thousands of new cellular towers.
Other foundational initiatives cited by the minister include the procurement and launch of two advanced communications satellites to reinforce national communications resilience, the roll-out of a digital alphanumeric national postcode system to provide geocoded addresses for commerce, and the enforcement of the Nigeria Web Design Standards across federal ministries, departments, and agencies.
In his initial letter of nomination, President Tinubu had lauded Tijani as “a distinguished technology leader, policymaker, and global advocate for digital transformation” whose career has consistently advanced telecommunications infrastructure, digital policies, and startup ecosystems aligned with the ITU’s mandate.
Tijani’s withdrawal concludes a prominent diplomatic profile within the agency, where he was elected Vice Chair of the ITU Council for 2025—marking Nigeria’s first leadership position on the governing body in nearly 50 years—and appointed to the ITU’s Digital Innovation Board in 2024.
Reiterating his institutional commitment to the federal cabinet, Tijani affirmed that his primary objective remains ensuring that the country’s digital economy investments yield tangible socioeconomic outcomes, higher youth employment, and robust technological self-reliance across Nigeria.
