The Nigerian Communications Commission and the Enugu State Government have signed a 15-year operational lease for the NCC’s Digital Industrial Park and Learning Centre in Enugu. Under the agreement, the state will take over and repurpose the facilities as the Enugu Talent City and an Artificial Intelligence Institute.
The signing took place on Tuesday at Government House, Enugu. NCC Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Dr Aminu Maida said the arrangement aligns with the federal government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the broader ambition of building a $1 trillion economy driven by productivity, innovation and private-sector growth. The two sites form part of a network of six digital industrial parks established by the commission to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and human-capital development.
Governor Peter Mbah described the handover as a milestone that would help position Enugu as a leading digital-economy hub. The Digital Industrial Park is to become Enugu Talent City, a knowledge-driven outsourcing centre focused on Business Process Outsourcing and Knowledge Process Outsourcing so that young people can deliver services to global companies without leaving the state. The Digital Bridge Institute (also referred to as the Learning Centre) is to be upgraded into a world-class AI institute and continental certification centre, with the state already engaging partners from Qatar on the certification component.
Both sites are described as university-sized and strategically located along major expressways in the state capital. The NCC has framed the lease as a way to activate under-utilised assets by placing them under a state government that has made digital skills, smart schools and technology-enabled growth central to its agenda. Maida emphasised that buildings alone do not create innovation; people, ideas and partnerships do.
The deal sits within a wider federal push to expand digital infrastructure and skills nationwide while giving states more operational control over selected assets. For Enugu, it provides ready physical platforms that can be turned toward BPO/KPO services, AI training and certification, startup support and related technology-enabled activities. Success will depend on how quickly the state can attract tenants, trainers, certification partners and private investment, and whether the facilities translate into measurable jobs and skills outcomes rather than remaining largely empty shells.
The agreement is operational rather than a full transfer of ownership. It gives Enugu a long runway to develop the sites while keeping the assets within the broader national digital-economy framework overseen by the NCC.
