The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers has lauded the Federal Government for its resolve to safeguard the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Reacting to the release of the official gazette, ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024’, NATCOMS President Adeolu Ogunbanjo described the development as a welcome move.
According to Ogunbanjo, the proposal has been overdue, and President Bola Tinubu has taken a bold step by signing the order.
“We have been on this journey for a long time, since Earnest Ndukwe’s days as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission. But today, it has finally happened,” Ogunbanjo told The PUNCH.
He commended the current EVC of the NCC, Aminu Maida, and described the move as a welcome development that will also help improve the quality of service in the industry.
The Gazette, according to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, makes it an offence to willfully damage critical telecom infrastructure, including telco towers, fibre optic cables, and data centres.
This move is expected to reduce incidents of vandalism and fibre cuts, which have been a major challenge for the telecom industry.
Two months before former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure elapsed in May 2023, he announced plans to sign a new Presidential Order for the Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure.
“This gazette now makes it an offence to wilfully damage assets such as telco towers/sites, switch stations, data centres, satellite infrastructure, submarine and fibre optic cables, transmission equipment, e-government platforms, and databases, among many others.
“We will continue to work to create an enabling and supportive environment and policies for our digital economy to thrive,” the minister said.
The minister emphasised that the security and protection of critical national information infrastructure were crucial for improving the quality of telecom services, which had often been affected by disruption and intentional damage.
Nigeria’s telecommunications industry is reeling from the impact of fibre cuts and vandalism.
In 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission stated that there were over 50,000 cases of destruction of fibre optic cables and other telecommunication infrastructure.
The commission’s Q2 report for 2023 noted that fibre optic infrastructure vandalism contributed to over 30 per cent of all reported network outage incidents.
Two weeks ago, the chief executive officer of Airtel Nigeria, Carl Cruz, said, “One of the major challenges faced by the telecoms industry is security.
He said there were over a thousand cases of sabotage and fibre theft monthly.