NCC Records 5,000 Fibre Cuts In Six Months, Seeks Better Coordination On Road Projects
Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, has called for greater collaboration among major stakeholders, especially Ministry of Works, to reduce the high rate of fibreoptic cables’ cut arising from road constructions.
Maida made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ workshop for the protection of fibre optic cables during road construction.
The workshop was themed, “Secure Today: Connect Tomorrow.”
Maida said there were over 5,000 optic fibre cuts in the last six months due to road constructions and rehabilitation across the country occasioned by inadequate collaboration.
He said, “In the first six months of this year alone, over 5,000 fibre cut incidents were reported from road excavation, construction and related civil work.
“Many occurred because there was little or no coordination between works before they began, or before the first shovel entered the ground. For this, I must emphasise that this is not about assigning blame.”
Maida added that measures had been put in place to reduce such incidents.
He stated, “To close this gap, the permanent secretaries of the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovations and Digital Economy inaugurated the Standing Committee on the Protection of Fibre Optic Cables. Its mandate is to develop practical coordination mechanisms before, during, and after roadblocks.
“Recognising the security dimension of this work, the committee’s membership was recently expanded to include officials of the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). This brings additional strategic oversight to our collective efforts to protect these vital national assets.”
Maida said, “Infrastructure built to connect people physically can sometimes disrupt the infrastructure that connects them each time a road connects people, goods, and communities; fibre does the same in the digital space, linking people to information, services, markets, and one another.
“As Nigeria builds the roads and development through fibre, it must not damage the digital infrastructure connecting those same communities to the world. This workshop brings both sides together.”
He stated that roads must be built to connect the communities, while at the same time, there must be collaboration to protect the fibre networks that connect and drive the economy.
In his address, Director of Critical National Standards and Infrastructure Protection, Office of the National Security Adviser, (ONSA), Air Vice Marshall (AVM), Effion Ewa, stated that the objective of the engagement was to foster stronger collaboration among critical stakeholders whose collective actions had directly impacted, and had a direct impact on the future of Nigeria’s digital future.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Nadungu Gagare, who was represented by Director, Telecoms and Postal Service, Stanley Musa, and his counterpart from Ministry of Works and Housing, Rafiu Olarinre, emphasised the need for collaboration.
Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole
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