Nigeria has criminalised the destruction of communication infrastructure in an effort to protect its lucrative ICT sector.

Dr. Bosun Tijan, minister of communications, innovation, and the digital economy, revealed the development this week on X (previously Twitter).

He stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu issued the official gazette on the Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024.

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

He emphasised security of Critical National Information Infrastructure is a priority that would assist enhance the quality of telecom services, which are frequently disrupted by intentional damage of infrastructure.

"We will continue to work to create an enabling and supportive environment and policies for our digital economy to thrive," according to the minister.

ICT players have advocated for tough laws to protect the ICT sector and to declare telecom infrastructure as critical national assets.

MTN Nigeria reported over 6,000 cuts to its optic cable in 2023 alone.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Nigeria Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators, renewed the request in March of this year, following the country's internet outage caused by optic fibre cable damage.

In the same month, Airtel Nigeria CEO Carl Cruz disclosed that the business has been recording an average of 1,000 fibre cuts per month.