Telecom operators in Nigeria, telcos yesterday heaved a sigh of relief as the federal government finally designates telecom infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, CNI.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, dropped the hint in a thank-you message to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for releasing the official gazette: ’’Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024’’
What this means is that it is now an offence to willfully damage telco facilities such as towers and base stations, switch stations, transmission equipment, submarine and fibre optic cables, data centres, satellite infrastructure, e-government platforms and databases, among others. These facilities are part of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) because of the important role they play, in ensuring security and in the delivery of other essential services.
Although the minister said the official copy of the gazette has not yet been released, where specific criminal penalties to the offences could be ascertained, it was, however, a measure of success and achievement for the telcos who over the years have clamoured for the Federal government to declare all telecoms facilities across the country critical national infrastructure without having their requests heeded.
As a result, they have suffered frequent vandalization of their infrastructure in various parts of the country without the culprits paying the prize.
They now hope the new order will help reduce issues such as dropped calls, poor internet service, and generally improve quality of telecom services in the country. The minister also believed that the new development will add to the protection of investments in the ICT sector as it will strengthen the operational capabilities of the telcos’ infrastructure and networks.
He said: “The security and protection of these Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) is a priority for this administration and will help improve the quality of telecoms services, which has very often been affected by disruption and intentional damage”.
Expressing happiness with the new development, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, ALTON Engr Gbenga Adebayo, said: “On behalf of all our members (the telcos), we express gratitude to Mr President for this action.
“It is long overdue, but we are happy, and the industry will be good with it. This will reduce incidencies of arbitrary and forceful access to our facilities by unauthorized government personnel, vandals and overzealous drivers of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR in various states of the federal. We thank the President, the Minister and the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC and the media among all stakeholders. I think congratulations is in order to all who have fought this battle on our side since 2004” he added.
Also, President of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, recalled that: “This bill has been before the Senate for a while, and there has been a lot of lobbying before now. So, this is a good development. It will help the telcos think less of vandalisation of their facilities and concentrate on providing quality services for our members. On behalf of all the telecom subscribers in Nigeria, we salute President Bola-Ahmed Tinubu for this proactive declaration,” he added.
Since 2004, the telcos and telecom sector stakeholders have been urging the federal government to join Countries like China, India, and the United States to consider telecom infrastructure critical National Infrastructure which imposes strict penalties on individuals who damage these assets.
However, the demands appear to have fallen on deaf ears. This is notwithstanding that other critical infrastructure, including power plants, electricity grids, oil and gas pipelines, roads, water supply systems, and hospitals, have long been classified as critical.
The closest realization to the demand was in 2020, when President Muhammadu Buhari, approved and also directed that necessary physical protective measures be put in place to safeguard telecommunications infrastructure deployed across the country.
