Rising incidents of fibre cuts, equipment thefts, and vandalization of telecom infrastructure across Nigeria have created uncertainty and doubt around the government’s policy on Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
According to telecom operators, seven months after the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, released the official gazette for the CNII, as signed by President Bola Tinubu, attacks on telecom infrastructure have continued without checks.
They attributed this to a lack of direction on the enforcement of the policy and the government’s failure to designate a specific security agency for the enforcement.
Highlighting the severity of the attacks on telecom infrastructure, Senior Manager at Broadbased Communications, Jude Ighomena, revealed that telecom operators lost an estimated N5 billion in 2024 due to infrastructure damage in Lagos State alone.
“These recurring incidents stem from poor planning, lack of coordination, and overlapping regulatory mandates.
“With no centralised framework, government agencies, construction firms, and telecom operators work independently, leading to repeated damages without accountability,” he said.
As of December last year, Airtel Nigeria said it was recording an average of 43 fibre cuts daily across the country.
“On average, operators report multiple incidents daily, disrupting services to millions of Nigerians.
“Airtel Nigeria alone records a daily average of 43 fibre cuts and in the last six months, a total of 7,742,” said Airtel’s Director of Corporate Communications and CSR, Femi Adeniran.
Beyond financial losses, these disruptions affect businesses, banking services, emergency response systems, and general communication networks, causing frustration for millions of telecom users.
Although the CNII criminalizes any form of attack against telecom infrastructure, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo said the current lack of effective prosecution has led to a culture of impunity, with individuals and organisations feeling they could damage public infrastructure without facing consequences.
Citing an example, Adebayo said:
“In England, if you crash into a telecommunications pole while driving, the state prosecutes the offender, not the telecoms provider.
“This highlights the seriousness of damaging public infrastructure, which can result in significant penalties, including imprisonment.”
Meanwhile, with the realization that the government’s CNII policy alone cannot guarantee infrastructure safety except some internal and standardisation issues are first resolved by the operators.
“When properly installed, these components are difficult to remove. However, due to negligence, they are often left unsecured, making them easy targets for theft,” he said.
“When properly installed, these components are difficult to remove. However, due to negligence, they are often left unsecured, making them easy targets for theft,” he said.
Adebayo also pointed out that community resistance to infrastructure projects has significantly hindered progress. He recounted instances where local communities prevented trucks from accessing sites due to previous unaddressed damages caused by contractors.
“A diesel supplier was blocked from entering an estate because a previous contractor had damaged their property and failed to make repairs. This lack of accountability breeds distrust and delays crucial projects,” he explained.
He urged stakeholders to foster better relationships with communities to prevent such conflicts.
Corroborating this, the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Tony Emoekpere, noted that standardisation is the key to long-term sustainability.
“If infrastructure is deployed in a suboptimal manner, failure is inevitable. We need to establish proper standards that all stakeholders—government, private sector, and the public—can align with,” he stated.
Aside from the CNII, Emoekpere emphasized that Nigeria has strong policies, such as local content policies, but implementation remains a major challenge.
According to him, the first major issue in the implementation of the CNII policy is to identify the government agency that the telecom operators can go to for enforcement.
In August last year, President Bola Tinubu signed an official gazette designating telecom infrastructure as critical national information infrastructure and making it a criminal offence for anyone to wilfully destroy such infrastructure in the country.