More than a decade after the National Economic Council (NEC) set the ₦145 per linear metre benchmark for Right of Way (RoW) charges in 2013, Nigeria's federal government has yet to secure a uniform price across all states. For over thirteen years, the levy has been a persistent battleground between federal agencies, state governors, and telecom operators, given its profound impact on the country's digital landscape.

The benchmark was reached at a NEC meeting, following recommendations from a joint committee of state governors and ministers tasked with resolving multiple taxation in the telecoms industry. Most states, however, initially ignored the resolution and continued charging between ₦3,000 and ₦8,000 per metre. Because the charge applies to every linear metre of cable, the gap compounds quickly along a route: one kilometre attracts ₦145,000 at the benchmark, but ₦6.6 million at the highest rate currently charged anywhere in the country.

In January 2020, after a critical intervention by the then Federal Minister of Communications and Digital Economy (FMCIDE), Dr Isa Pantami, the Nigeria Governors' ForumNGF) renegotiated and unanimously agreed to finally implement and enforce the ₦145 policy across all states.

Between 2022 and 2024, the FMCIDE and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) pressed for the NEC benchmark rate, with ₦145 as the country's maximum. At one point, the federal government even lobbied state governors for a ₦0 rate in a bid to fast-track fibre optic rollout.

By 2025–2026, one-third of the states — 12 governors — had waived RoW charges entirely. Yet several states still charge above the benchmark or have rebranded the fees as expensive application costs. With the waiver count static in 2026, whether the remaining holdouts converge on the benchmark — or keep offsetting it through application fees — is the clearest measure of progress as the thirteen-year-old policy presses on.

Hidden fees and RoW levy disparities across states

Data from the NCC's Ease of Doing Business portal exposes the differences in RoW levies imposed by the states. While some abide by the ₦145 per linear metre benchmark, others charge well beyond the threshold.

Twelve states — Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Zamfara — charge zero levy, with no new state joining the group in 2026.

Sixteen states charge the ₦145 per linear metre threshold: Abia, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe.

Ogun State, at ₦6,600, leads the nine states charging above the threshold. The others are Akwa Ibom (₦2,000), Bayelsa (₦850), Delta (₦2,706), FCT Abuja (₦950), Kano (₦2,754), Lagos (₦850), Osun (₦1,500), and Rivers (₦2,256).

Hidden charges, most notably application fees, are also being levied — especially by states with ₦0 and ₦145 RoW levies. Both Adamawa and Enugu, for instance, collect application fees of ₦100,000 despite having a ₦0 RoW charge.

Among states charging the ₦145 fee, Ekiti collects the highest application fee at ₦700,000. The others are Cross River (₦250,000), Edo (₦10,000), Gombe (₦10,000), Lagos (₦20,000), Ondo (₦20,000), Oyo (₦50,000), and Yobe (₦25,000). For scale, Ekiti's single application fee equals what the ₦145 benchmark levy would raise over nearly five kilometres of cable.

Why the difference?

Olayinka Amoo, a telecom site engineer who spoke to Technext, said the fact that the NCC carries these disparities on its portal shows it is aware of the hidden levies.

“We should also know that RoW is a land matter, and land belongs to the states. What we have is a policy agreement with no uniform enforcement behind it,” he said.

According to Amoo, the hidden fees and other rigorous application processes are what fibre operators and contractors actually feel on the ground. “The real issue is the total cost to deploy, which varies widely from state to state,” he noted.

Confronted with such cumbersome processes, telecom operators mostly prefer deploying their fibre in industrialised, concentrated cities where they can earn the highest returns. Roughly 80–85% of Nigeria's fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment is concentrated in big cities such as Lagos, Rivers, and FCT Abuja, underscoring the digital divide. The concentration matters beyond operators' spreadsheets: FTTH delivers high-speed internet directly into homes, so where cables are laid shapes which households can get fibre-based connectivity at all.

Recent data shared by MTN Nigeria on the nationwide availability of its FibreX service showed that while the service spans 15 states and 232 locations, Lagos, Rivers, and FCT accounted for 83, 32, and 65 locations respectively — 77.6% of all FibreX locations in Nigeria — reflecting the heavy concentration in cities where RoW approval posed minimal obstacles.

“For investors, that unpredictability is the real risk,” Amoo said. He advised that a clear and published fee schedule in every state, backed by the NCC and the Governors' Forum, would make FTTH rollout far more bankable. “In my experience, the states that make the process clear and predictable are the ones where fibre gets in the ground first,” he added.

For internet users, the stakes are direct: when a state or local government charges exorbitant fees to lay internet cables, it is not just taxing big telecom operators — it is also taxing citizens' internet speed, video quality, and data tariffs.