Every fibre cut sets Nigeria’s digital economy back, but who pays?

President Bola Tinubu's June 2024 Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order sought to safeguard Nigeria's telecommunications assets from vandalism, damage, and unauthorized tampering. Classifying fiber lines, base stations, and data centers as vital national security installations, the order aimed to deter breaches with penalties and curb unauthorized destruction.

Despite the order, chronic breaches continue to impose significant financial penalties on operators, diverting capital from network expansion to emergency repairs and destabilizing internet reliability nationwide. In 2023, before the order, MTN Nigeria experienced over 6,000 fiber cuts annually, averaging 16-17 severed lines daily.

In 2025, the telco recorded 5,478 fiber cuts between January and July, raising the daily average to over 26 severed cables. This represents eight more broken cables per day than before the order's implementation. The broader telecom industry reported 19,384 cuts between January and August 2025, pushing the daily average to 80 cuts.

In the first nine months of 2026, telecom networks suffered over 44,000 fiber cuts, averaging more than 160 cuts daily, mostly from uncoordinated road construction, ditch digging, and theft. These disruptions expose significant enforcement gaps, raising the question of who ultimately pays when statutory protections fail to stop contractors and vandals from repeatedly severing the nation's digital backbone.