In order to keep its operations connected to the humanitarian community tackling insurgency in northeast Nigeria, the country’s Emergency Telecommunications Sector (ETS) is seeking to migrate its systems to the cloud.

ETS confirmed the move in an update, revealing that, in collaboration with its main funder, the World Food Programme (WFP), it was reviewing a proposal provided by a cloud partner. ETS has not named the partner at this stage.

Patrick Midy, coordinator, ETS, said the organisation had called for a first meeting of stakeholders to clarify some points in the proposal.

“The migration exercise will ensure availability of back-up data in the event of an emergency,” he said.

In a related development, the ETS has confirmed receiving critical funding of $153,000 from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office. This followed a funding appeal made through WFP in February.

Of the $1.16 million required to maintain services in northeast Nigeria, ETS’ funding is now at 42%. The figure previously stood at 28%.

As of the end of August, ETS provided data connectivity to 1 160 users from 122 organisations, comprising 16 United Nations agencies and 106 non-governmental organisations.

During the month, connectivity for humanitarian agencies was disrupted when internet services were severely disturbed during a nationwide anti-government protest.

There have also been intermittent fibre cuts impacting the eight humanitarian hubs in the Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency by Islamist groups.

The Islamic groups have been involved in a campaign, since 2009, to establish an Islamic state in the northeast of the country.