Stakeholders in the Nigerian digital economy have called for stronger collaboration between industry players and regulators towards building a more resilient internet infrastructure across Africa.
This was disclosed during the one-day conference organised by the science, energy and technology (SET) committee of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI). Themed, ‘Building resilience: The impact of recent West Africa subsea cable cuts’, the conference was held in Lagos on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
They said further that stakeholders within the ecosystem should work towards creating an enabling environment that can attract payment technology giants like Mastercard and Visa to establish their card-switching infrastructure within Nigeria.
“To address these challenges, we must invest more in providing locally hosted switching and transmission digital infrastructure to cater to transactions within the country,” Gabriel Idahosa, president of the LCCI said.
According to him, local transactions should remain local to reduce dependency on international connections and minimize disruptions. “The recent fiber cuts revealed significant inefficiencies in our technology solutions.”
According to him, the inefficiency arises because many transactions involving multiple international connections are hosted outside Nigeria.
Idahosa said that when such connectivity is disrupted, the hosted transactions fail, hence the need for submarine cable providers to synergize, by creating a network of support and redundancy.
According to him, businesses and institutions must implement redundancy to ensure continuity of critical business functions.
“We can improve Africa’s internet reliability and resilience during cable cuts by hosting content locally, educating regulators and policymakers on the importance of cross-border interconnectivity, and investing in internet infrastructure,” he said.
He said further that Nigeria can build a resilient, efficient, and secure digital infrastructure that supports the growth and prosperity of the region, by addressing the challenges head-on.
“The impact of recent outages has been profound, but it has also highlighted the path forward,” Idahosa said.
Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman/CEO, of NCC, said that Nigeria is on a journey towards resilience, despite the challenges, to provide the level of resilience that is required of any nation that hosts its contents within its continent.
Maida, who was the guest speaker, said further that a lack of interconnection between operators meant the impact on connectivity was significant, despite redundant international links.
He said further that the recent disruption experienced on the back of the cut in undersea cable led to substantial economic losses, which disrupted businesses, government services, and communications across Africa.
“With the global subsea investments exceeding $15 billion annually, the economic impact is no doubt substantial. In West Africa, increased subsea cable capacity is expected to enhance regional GDP by up to $25 billion over the next decade, driven by improved connectivity and digital services,” he said.
Ayotunde Coker, CEO, of Open Access Data Centres and chairman, of the SET committee, LCCI, said that Nigeria is well served from a subsea point of view, but added that the country is yet to attain resilience.
He said that investments in digital infrastructure are strategic and capital intensive and that the time frame for return on capital is long. “So we have to continue to make sure that we build the right investment environment.”
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