Stakeholders in the information and communications technologies (ICTs) sector have called for ‘special protection’ of its equipment and personnel in view of rising wave of wanton vandalism of infrastructure, arbitrary arrests, kidnapping and murder Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now report.

This they said is necessary for Nigeria to continue to reap the benefits of the growth in the sector and avoid collapse of other sectors of the economy dependent on ICT.

Rising from one-day enlightenment forum on: “Critical ICT Infrastructure Protection Roundtable” organized by the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) and Communications Week Media Limited, publishers of Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, the stakeholders noted with great concern the clear and present danger posed by attacks on networks.

Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, chairman of the event, stated that the law on protection of ICT facilities “must recognize all infrastructures as critical without re-segregation – either public or private sector equipment.” He emphasized that “public-private-partnership is needed in this regard.”

Ndukwe also former executive vice chairman/CEO, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and chairman, Open Media Group, called for a robust policy framework to provide the necessary solutions required for such law to be fully implemented. 

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, Alton, expressed displeasure at the attacks on telecom equipment and warned of the dangers to the economy.

He said that ICT Network is a network that protects other network such as security, national health services, emergency services, banking among others, and therefore need to be protected.

To him, ICT infrastructure is like the body’s nervous system.

Isaac Idu, a lawyer and an assistant director of the Department of State Security (DSS), said there was already a ‘critical infrastructure bill’ at the national assembly which needs to be passed into law urgently.

Idu, who represented the Lagos state command director, noted that ICT operators have to push for the passage of the bill without necessarily advocating for a separate law which could take a much longer time.

He advised ICT companies to do due diligence on “security vulnerability assessment” of location before citing any telecom base station or other infrastructure.

According to him, security operatives rely on hi-tech communications equipment to gather intelligence, hence the need for a proper synergy between telcos and the state security service for effective intelligence for the protection of ICT infrastructure.

Nodding in agreement, Bankole Falade, regulatory affairs manager at MTN Nigeria said there are existing laws in the country that allows for telecom infrastructure protection.

For example, he noted that the civil defence act, police act and the pubic orders act could be leveraged upon to protect ICT infrastructure.

Isyaku Barau, a deputy commissioner of police (DCP), who represented the AIG in charge of Zone two, said ICT infrastructure vandalism is no different from other sectors like oil and gas and power cables.

He believes the solution lies with all stakeholders – operators, communities, consumers, and security agencies – “everybody should ensure that ICT infrastructure is necessary for their survival. If the telecommunications facility is down, it means the police cannot be effective because we need the telephone to gather information on activities of crime. Now the operators need to also look beyond community leadership and extend goodwill to other stakeholders in any given community; that way no one would feel left out or cheated.”

At the end of the day, participants recommended that the federal government should set up a task force to protect ICT infrastructure.

They also called for confidentiality agreement on communications data to ensure maximum protection.

The roundtable recommended that telecoms site should not be shut down without a court order for any reason because of its consequence on quality of service and insisted that the interest of consumers should be protected as it affects telecoms facilities.

Participants also called for community involvement in protecting telecoms infrastructure while urging the passage of Critical Infrastructure Bill.