Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Mr. Bosun Tijani, has said that the Nigerian Government is not involved in network disruptions since Thursday when the nationwide protests started.
Attributing the poor network disruptions to high online traffic and infrastructure challenges, the minister denied any instructions to telecommunication operators to disrupt network services during the ongoing protests.
On Thursday, August 1, 2024, Nigerians started experiencing poor internet connectivity across all the service providers, leading many to believe that it was a tactic by the Nigerian government to stifle the protesters.
But the minister categorically denied the government’s involvement in the network disruptions.
“There’s no instruction to tamper with the network, absolutely no instruction from my office,” Tijani said.
He explained that the high volume of online activity, as many people were not at work, could contribute to the network issues.
“You also need to understand when you have a significant number of people not at work, people are online. So you expect the traffic will be extremely high. And I’m not saying that’s the cause,” he added.
The Vanguard newspaper report quoted the minister as saying that the government’s role is not only to ensure responsiveness from service providers, but also to drive investments in the necessary infrastructure to provide quality service.
He highlighted a significant lag in Nigeria’s telecommunications infrastructure, noting that the country needs 125,000km of fiber optic cable but has only invested in 85,000km so far.
“We need 125,000km of fibre optic cable lead. We’ve only invested as a nation, the private sector, 85,000 kilometres.
“This is the project that this government is prioritising. FEC has already approved this. Unfortunately, it won’t be done in six months,” Tijani said, adding that the government is working to improve the telecommunications and connectivity services in Nigeria.
GIK/APA
Nigeria: Communications minister says 3-day poor network is not caused by govt
