NCC decries 5,000 fibre cuts, demands road contractor coordination‎

‎Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has sounded the alarm over a wave of fibre-optic cable damage sweeping the country, warning that the nation’s road-building ambitions are quietly gutting the digital backbone millions depend on daily.
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‎The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) disclosed that more than 5,000 fibre-cut incidents were recorded in the first half of 2026 alone, attributing the damage largely to road construction, excavation and related civil works across the country.
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‎## Regulator calls for urgent action
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‎According to details obtained by Confiance News, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, made the disclosure on August 11, 2026, at a stakeholders’ workshop on the protection of fibre-optic cables held at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Office of the National Security Adviser, in Abuja.
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‎The NCC boss called on road construction companies, contractors, engineers and other stakeholders to strengthen coordination and adopt preventive measures to safeguard fibre-optic infrastructure during road construction, rehabilitation and other civil works nationwide.
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‎Maida stressed that the country’s drive to expand physical infrastructure must not come at the expense of the digital infrastructure connecting Nigerians to information, services, markets and opportunities.
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‎## ‘One buried cable’ with nationwide consequences
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‎Confiance News gathered that the EVC painted a vivid picture of the stakes involved, describing communications infrastructure as a critical national lifeline underpinning banking, government services, education, healthcare, commerce, security and emergency communications.
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‎”To a machine operator on a construction site, it may appear to be one buried cable. To the nation, it can mean failed calls, stalled payments, interrupted services and missed opportunities,” Maida said, highlighting the far-reaching impact of fibre cuts on individuals, businesses and public institutions.
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‎He noted that damage to fibre infrastructure could disrupt essential services and impose significant costs on citizens and the wider economy.
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‎Drawing from recent history, the NCC chief recalled that fibre cuts in February 2024, including those linked to road construction, triggered an almost network-wide disruption for one telecommunications operator, a breakdown that affected millions of users for several hours and placed additional pressure on other networks.
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‎”Our central message is simple: Nigeria must build the roads that connect our communities while protecting the fibre networks that connect our economy. We need both forms of infrastructure, and we need them to work together,” he said.
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‎## No blame game, but early coordination is key
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‎It was learned by Confiance News that Maida was careful to frame the challenge as a shared responsibility rather than an exercise in finger-pointing. He noted that no road contractor deliberately seeks to disconnect a community, just as telecommunications operators do not intend to obstruct road construction.
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‎However, he stressed the need for a dependable system of early coordination among all stakeholders involved in road and fibre infrastructure projects.
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‎## Standing committee expanded with security mandate
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‎Confiance News confirmed that the Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Ministry of Works and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy had earlier inaugurated the Standing Committee on the Protection of Fibre Optic Cables to develop practical coordination mechanisms before, during and after road works.
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‎Maida disclosed that the committee’s membership had recently been expanded to include representatives of the Office of the National Security Adviser, a move he tied to the security implications of protecting telecommunications infrastructure, which has been designated as Critical National Information Infrastructure.
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‎He explained that the designation requires telecommunications infrastructure to be treated as national infrastructure and protected accordingly, with appropriate legal, regulatory and remedial consequences for any damage caused.
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‎## Stakeholders urged to play their part
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‎The EVC urged operators, contractors, government agencies, regulators and security agencies to play their respective roles in preventing fibre damage, stressing that coordination must remain at the heart of the solution as Nigeria pursues simultaneous expansion of its road and digital networks.
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‎The workshop, held at the NCTC in Abuja, brought together key stakeholders from across the road construction and telecommunications sectors, signalling growing federal government attention to an issue that regulators say now carries direct implications for national security and economic stability.
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‎As Nigeria continues to expand its infrastructure on multiple fronts, the NCC’s latest intervention underscores a growing recognition that beneath the nation’s roads lies a fragile but indispensable network, one whose protection may prove just as urgent as the roads themselves.