Telecom cable vandals face 10-year jail term

In August, the Federal Government released the ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024,’ aimed at securing telecom infrastructure 23 years after the country’s mobile revolution began.

Bosun Tijani, minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, said, “I would like to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the release of the official gazette, ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024.’”

This gazette now makes it an offence to purposefully damage assets such as telco towers/sites, switch stations, data centres, satellite infrastructure, submarine and fibre optic cables, transmission equipment, e-government platforms, and databases, among others.

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According to the ‘Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015: With Amendment Act 2024,’ the President, on the recommendation of the National Security Adviser, may designate certain computer systems or networks, among other things, as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) if their compromise would have a debilitating impact on national or economic security, public health, and safety.

The Act stipulates that anyone who damages CNII is liable, upon conviction, to a prison term of up to 10 years without a fine. If the offense results in grievous bodily harm, the offender could face up to 15 years in prison. If it results in death, the penalty could be life imprisonment.

The recently signed gazette by President Bola Tinubu, a part of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, is titled ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024.’

Part of it read, “The objectives of this Order are to: (a) designate certain Information and Communications Technology systems (ICT), networks and infrastructure operating in Nigeria, as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).”

It emphasised that anyone who tampers with any CNII is liable to penalties that may be prescribed in part of the Act (Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015).

According to Tijani, the security and protection of these CNII is a priority and will help improve the quality of telecom services, which are frequently disrupted by intentional damage.

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The destruction of telecom infrastructure such as towers, switch stations, data centers, submarine cables, base stations, fiber optic networks, fiber optic cables, and ducts will now attract a prison sentence of up to 10 years. Nigeria joins countries like China, India, and the United States in treating telecom infrastructure as critical and imposing strict penalties for its sabotage.

At a recent industry event, Carl Cruz, the chief executive officer of Airtel Nigeria, said, “One of the major challenges faced by the telecoms industry is security. There are over a thousand cases of sabotage and fiber theft monthly.”

In 2023, frequent fiber optic cable cuts resulted in losses of at least $23 million and caused widespread internet and service outages, severely impacting service quality.