Nigeria, Ghana And Others Plan To Protect Undersea Cables
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has disclosed its plans to spearhead a global collaboration aimed at enhancing the protection of undersea cables.
This was disclosed by the minister on social media platform, X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
This comments came against the backdrop of undersea cable cut that has affected Ghana, Togo, Senegal, among others.
While recognising the critical role these cables play in the digital economy, Tijani expressed the importance of reviewing international laws and foster partnerships with regional and global bodies to accelerate efforts to safeguard this vital infrastructure.
Tijani also expressed commitment that the Nigerian Communications Commission was actively working with all relevant stakeholders to swiftly resolve the issues at hand.
According to him, “I must commend the selflessness shown by the leadership of @GloWorld @WIOCC_ @MTNNG @Mainoneservice and the entire sector in coming together to limit the impact of the cuts. Your actions are helping us all to better prepare for the future.
“This is also an opportunity for us to review international laws and collaborations to adequately protect undersea cables, and I will be engaging regional and global bodies to accelerate efforts on this crucial agenda.
“To those experiencing disruption, please rest assured that @NgComCommission is working with all key stakeholders to resolve the matter in the shortest possible time.”
On Thursday, damages on the undersea cable supplying broadband Internet connectivity to Nigeria and countries in the West African sub-region forced many banks and other financial institutions, as well as telecom companies and allied firms, to scale down their operations.
Meanwhile, President of the Association Of Mobile Money and Bank Agents In Nigeria, Sarafadeen Fasasi, speaking with a correspondent, stated that there the disruption in the internet service had led to huge reconciliation issues for his members.
“Financial services now ride on technology and internet connectivity. With that breach, several transactions have been affected. Lots of bank transfers for customers did not go through, whereas our agents have been debited leading to issues with customers. The customers do not want to understand whereas the monies have left the wallet of the agents. It has been a serious headache in the last couple of days. It is improving now but there are huge reconciliation issues," he said.
It has also come to light that the undersea cable cuts may remain unsolved for several weeks.
In an official statement, the NCA announced that it hosted a meeting on Saturday, involving all subsea cable landing service providers and the three mobile operators affected by the situation.
It said, “Based on the above, the subsea cable landing service providers have indicated an estimated time frame of a minimum of five (5) weeks for full service restoration from the time the vessels are dispatched to the various locations.
“The NCA recognizes the impact the disruptions have had on economic, academic and social activities and assures the public of its commitment to continue collaborating with relevant stakeholders."