Nigeria: Press spotlights repair work on subsea cable cut, others

The assurance by the Nigeria Communications Commission that cable operators are actively working to restore connectivity following the submarine cable cuts, which have left several African internet service providers with severe outages is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Vanguard newspaper reports that the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has assured that cable operators are actively working to restore connectivity following the submarine cable cuts, which have left several African internet service providers with severe outages.
The Director, Public Affairs, of NCC, Reuben Muoka, said in a statement on Thursday that the NCC identified affected operators as ithe West African Cable System and African Coast to Europe, along with SAT3 and MainOne, which experienced downtime.
The Nigerian regulator attributed the disruptions to incidents in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, resulting in subsequent disruptions in Portugal.
The commission noted similar challenges along other undersea cable routes, such as Seacom, Europe India Gateway, and Asia-Africa-Europe 1, which also experienced cuts.
The regulator stated, ”Similar undersea cables providing traffic from Europe to the East Coast of Africa, like Seacom, Europe India Gateway, and Asia-Africa-Europe 1, were said to have been cut at some point around the Red Sea, resulting in the degradation of services across these routes.”
Many subscribers on Thursday expressed frustrations on social media platforms, citing difficulties in making phone calls and accessing online services.
The NCC assured the public that cable operators have initiated repair efforts, with services gradually being restored.
The newspaper says that banks and telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria have been down with internet outages due to damage to international undersea cables supplying them with connectivity.
It was learnt that damage affected major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and is causing downtime across West and South African countries.
The West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3 cables are affected.
Consequently, some bank networks in Nigeria have been down and unable to process transactions as a result of the cyberspace interruption.
This has subjected MTN subscribers and other telecom users to start complaining of poor data experience since Thursday morning.
MTN has issued a statement to respond to its subscribers’ complaints about poor internet connectivity disclosing the cause.
“We apologize for the challenges you may be experiencing with internet speed and accessing data services at the moment,” MTN said.
“This is a result of damage to international undersea cables across East & West Africa. The repair process is ongoing to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Please look out for further updates.”
Reports from local media said that the cable damage has also caused a massive internet problem in South Africa.
South African publication, My Broadband reported that WIOCC group business development head Darren Bedford confirmed that multiple undersea cables operating along Africa’s West coast are experiencing outages.
The Punch reports that a total of 150 judgments by the Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice have yet to be obeyed or enforced by member countries.
A record of the status of the judgment obtained by Punch correspondent from the court’s registry indicated that all ECOWAS countries and some of its institutions have outstanding judgments to enforce.
According to the record, as of January 31, 2024, Nigeria topped the list with the highest number of unenforced judgments at 43, followed by the Republic of Togo with 23, and Guinea ranking third with 14.
Others are Mali with 11; the Republic of Niger has nine; Senegal, eight; Sierra Leone, seven; and Cote D’Ivoire with six.
The Gambia has yet to enforce five; Benin Republic, Liberia, and Burkina Faso have four unenforced judgments each. Ghana has three, while Cabo Verde and Guinea Bissau have one each.
The ECOWAS commission has a total of five judgments yet to be enforced.
In addition, the judgments given in the case between Petrostar Nigeria vs Blackberry Nigeria Ltd and EBID vs Cross River State have not been enforced.
On the list of decisions enforced as of January 31, 2024, a total of 34 judgments had been implemented.
Among the 34, Nigeria has a total of eight enforced judgments which included five from the Registered Trustees of Socio-Economic and Accountability Project.
The newspaper says that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has said the Port Harcourt refinery will commence operations in about two weeks.
According to Kyari, mechanical works have been completed on the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, stressing that the Kaduna refinery will commence operations in December.
Kyari made this known in a press briefing after he appeared before Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various Turn Around Maintenance projects of the country’s refineries.
He said, “We are serving this country with honour and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place.
“We did a mechanical completion of the refinery that was what we said in December. We now have crude oil already stocked in the refinery. We are doing regulatory compliance test that must happen in every refinery before you start it, and I assure you that this Port Harcourt refinery will start in the next two weeks.
“Completing the mechanical work means that you are done with the rehabilitation work, now you have to test to see how it works. Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on the Warri refinery. It is also undergoing regulatory compliance; processes that we are doing with our regulator, and this will soon be completed and it will be ready.
“Kaduna refinery will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage in Kaduna, but we promise Kaduna will be delivered by December.”
The NNPC GMD also told the Senate that over 450, 000 barrels of oil had been stocked into the Port Harcourt refinery.
He said, “All crude lines are active and have actually delivered over 450,000 barrels into Port Harcourt refinery.
GIK/APA