The Federal Government and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have resumed discussions about preserving underwater cables and other digital infrastructure.
Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, revealed this on Wednesday’s episode of X.
The International Telecommunication Union, located in Geneva, is a United Nations specialised body in charge of information and communication technologies.
The move to strengthen digital infrastructure came after a recent undersea cable cut hampered telecommunications in Nigeria and other West African countries.
Tijani was pleased about his encounter with ITU Deputy Secretary-General Tomas Lamanauskas in Geneva.
The Minister wrote: “Following the recent cuts to submarine cables off the coast of West Africa, I spoke about my desire to initiate dialogue on building resilience in our digital infrastructure, so I was pleased to meet with Tomas Lamanauskas, the Deputy Secretary General of the ITU, in Geneva today (Wednesday) to kickstart action on organising regional and global efforts for the protection of submarine cables and other digital infrastructure.
“The Deputy Secretary-General and I discussed the review of global laws with relevant government and private sector stakeholders to ensure the enhancement of global digital resilience plans. We also spoke about building investment models for expanding broadband penetration on a global scale, with Nigeria’s Broadband Alliance and Fibre fund as potential case studies for other global markets.
“As an immediate action point, we will be engaging African countries and partners at a stakeholder roundtable in Abuja, to chart a path towards building resilience in our digital infrastructure which remains a critical backbone for national development.”
Since Thursday, telecommunications subscribers and bank users have been stranded as a subsea cable cut in the Atlantic Ocean offshore Cote D’Ivoire, along the coast of West Africa paralysed digital transactions and internet communications. Mobile network operators like MTN and some banks attributed the network outage to a subsea cable cut in the Atlantic Ocean but the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said network has been restored.
