A developer in Kajola LGA should not have to drive 40 kilometres to get a stable connection. Broadband is governance.
Ask any freelance developer, remote worker, or startup founder in Oyo State what their biggest daily challenge is, and the answer will almost always involve internet connectivity. Not lack of talent. Not lack of ideas. As a recent Techcabal Healthcare ecosystem report proves, there are needs for tech solutions in many areas, Oyo-based freelancers serve clients in Europe and North America. The bottleneck is infrastructure. Specifically, the patchy, unreliable, and often prohibitively expensive internet access that characterises much of the state, particularly outside of Ibadan’s urban core.
If there is anything that proves the need for broadband connectivity across the state, it is the recent Oriire kidnapping, which has exposed the need for tech solutions for problematic issues affecting sub-urban and rural areas in Nigeria like security.
In 2025, Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan set ambitious targets across the country. But targets are not reality. In Oyo State’s rural and semi-urban local government areas, places like Atisbo, Kajola, Itesiwaju, Orelope, and Ogbomoso South, broadband penetration remains dramatically low. Residents and businesses in these areas rely predominantly on mobile data, which is expensive per gigabyte, inconsistent in quality, and insufficient for bandwidth-intensive professional work like software development, video production, or cloud-based operations.
The result is a two-tier digital economy within the state itself. In parts of Ibadan, particularly in areas like Bodija, Ring Road, and the University of Ibadan environs, reliable connectivity is reasonably accessible, and a small but growing community of tech professionals has been able to build careers and businesses. But in the rest of the state, the digital economy is largely a spectator sport. People have smartphones. They have awareness of technology. But they cannot meaningfully participate in the digital economy because the infrastructure does not support it.
Fixing this is a governorship-level responsibility. While telecommunications regulation sits primarily at the federal level, state governors have significant tools at their disposal. They can negotiate infrastructure-sharing agreements with telecommunications companies as part of right-of-way approvals. They can establish state-funded broadband programmes targeting underserved LGAs. They can create digital enterprise zones with subsidised connectivity for technology businesses. They can partner with the Nigerian Communications Commission to prioritise Oyo State in Universal Service Provision Fund deployments.
There is also a public buildings angle. Schools, primary healthcare centres, local government secretariats, community centres, these are physical nodes that exist across every LGA in Oyo State. A bold governor could commit to providing free public Wi-Fi at every one of these locations within a defined timeframe. This would not solve the commercial connectivity gap, but it would create access points that communities, particularly students and small business owners — could immediately benefit from, and give them leverage to build on.
The economic case for this kind of investment is straightforward. Every remote worker who can work reliably from Saki instead of relocating to Lagos is money staying in Oyo State’s local economy. Every startup that can operate from Ogbomoso without infrastructure headaches is a potential employer of local graduates. Every Iseyin textile trader who can sell online because they have reliable connectivity is a microenterprise plugged into the global economy.
As the 2027 governorship campaigns develop, the tech community in Oyo State should be asking every candidate one direct question: what is your broadband plan, LGA by LGA? Not a general statement about supporting digital infrastructure, but a specific, costed, time-bound commitment to closing the connectivity gap across the state’s 33 local government areas.
Internet access in 2027 is not a luxury. It is infrastructure as essential as roads and water. The next governor of Oyo State should be able to explain, in plain terms, how they intend to make it available to every resident — not just those who already live close enough to a cell tower.
