NCC and NSCDC stressed that fibre optic cables are critical national assets that power Nigeria’s digital economy, enable seamless communication, support emergency services, connect businesses, and facilitate government operations.

They said their destruction, whether through negligence, lack of coordination, or wilful actions, poses a direct threat to national security, economic stability, and public safety.

According to the organisations,

“Under the Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Order 2024, telecommunication fibre infrastructure is classified as Critical National Information Infrastructure.

Consequently, any damage resulting from unauthorized digging, construction activities, or failure to collaborate with relevant authorities to prevent damage during construction constitutes a criminal offence.”

They warned that individuals, construction companies, or government contractors who damage fibre optic infrastructure would be made to face prosecution and applicable sanctions as provided under existing laws, including the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015.

The NCC and NSCDC therefore issue a categorical warning that “future damage to fibre optic infrastructure caused by excavation, road construction, or any civil engineering activity conducted without due consultation or collaboration with network operators and relevant regulators will attract strict legal consequences.”

They called on federal, state and local government agencies; road construction companies; utility service providers; and private developers to ensure full compliance by conducting pre‑construction verification of fibre routes; collaborating with the NCC, telecom operators and NSCDC before and during construction; adhering to approved guidelines for excavation and right‑of‑way management; and reporting any accidental damage immediately to enable rapid response and mitigation.

The public is encouraged to report any act of fibre-optic infrastructure sabotage or damage to the nearest NSCDC Office or email to protect@ncc.gov.ng, cipu@nscdc.gov.ng or call 622 toll-free.

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Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, who addressed a gathering of senior management staff of NSCDC in the South West Zone, at an exclusive workshop organised by the Commission, hailed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) sealed between the agency and the Commission, for which the gathering was to explore how the Corps will deploy enabling laws, subsidiary legislations, and extant guidelines to arrest any form of criminality in the sector. 

Danbatta, who was represented at the workshop by Ephraim Nwokonneya, the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement at the Commission, said, over the years, the NCC has been working with relevant law enforcement agencies, and in particular the NSCDC, towards protecting telecom sector from all kinds of criminal behaviour.

“Through despicable activities that are criminal and totally at variance with national security concerns of government, the deviant elements in our midst have been acting to undermine efforts put in place to consolidate the gains of the sector,” the EVC said.

Danbatta declared that “These criminal activities include theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, the illegal use of fraudulently-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, operating without license, illegal call masking, and so on.”

He said while the NSCDC officers have been of tremendous assistance, the objective of the workshop was to constantly engage and update them on new trends and existing regulations, requiring concerted efforts for their implementation towards enhancing sanity in the telecom sector.

Danbatta said the NSCDC and other agencies have done very well with the assistance of their personnel in carrying out raid exercises and mopping up fraudulently-registered SIM cards found in circulation, as well as in raising the banner of awareness on the need to protect critical national telecom infrastructure.

Some of the topical issues discussed at the workshop covered the activities of the Commission as presented by the relevant departments in the context of laws and other regulations, and in relation to the roles of NSCDC, as depicted in the presentation made by the NCC’s Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu, during the workshop.

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