Somewhere in Nigeria, a fibre cable is being cut. It is happening right now, possibly by a construction crew that never checked for buried lines, possibly by someone looking to sell the copper. By the time you finish reading this, another one will be gone.
When President Bola Tinubu signed the Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order in June 2024, the Federal Government moved to classify fibre lines, base stations, and data centres as national security assets. The intent was clear: impose serious penalties, make vandals and reckless contractors think twice, and protect the infrastructure that keeps Nigeria's digital economy running.
The numbers tell a different story. MTN Nigeria recorded over 6,000 fibre cuts in 2023, the year before the order, working out to roughly 16 to 17 cuts per day. After the order came into force, that figure climbed. Between January and July 2025, the telco logged 5,478 cuts, pushing its daily average past 26. Across the broader industry, the situation is worse. Between January and August 2025, the sector recorded 19,384 cuts combined, an average of 80 per day. In the first nine months of 2026, that number surged past 44,000, more than 160 cuts every single day, most of them traced to uncoordinated road construction, ditch digging, and theft.
Every severed cable means emergency repair bills instead of network expansion budgets. It means unstable internet for businesses, students, and households across the country. The legal framework exists. The executive order is signed. But when enforcement gaps remain this wide, the cost lands squarely on operators and ordinary Nigerians.
The real question is not whether the law is strong enough on paper. It is who is actually being held accountable when it fails.
Originally published by TechCabal.