Nigeria’s telecommunications sector is facing mounting operational challenges as vandalism, equipment theft, and fibre cuts continue to disrupt broadband expansion across the country.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecom operators reported over 3,200 cases of equipment theft between January and August 2025, alongside 19,384 fibre cuts and more than 19,000 incidents of denied access to telecom sites.
“These disruptions have caused prolonged outages, revenue losses, increased security costs, and delayed service restoration,” said the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Aminu Maida, at a business roundtable in Abuja.
The meeting, themed “Right of Way and Protection of Broadband Infrastructure – The Road to Success in Broadband Investment and Connectivity,” emphasized the urgent need to protect telecom assets as critical national infrastructure.
Maida noted that a Presidential Order signed by President Bola Tinubu in June 2024 empowers law enforcement agencies to prosecute offenders involved in vandalism and theft of telecom facilities. He added that the NCC, in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), has dismantled several major cartels behind telecom equipment theft in recent years.
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Despite these interventions, Maida said persistent issues such as multiple taxation, poor power supply, inconsistent right-of-way policies, and weak law enforcement continue to hinder broadband rollout.
“The sector cannot thrive if operators continue to battle theft and vandalism at this scale,” Maida warned. “Broadband is central to Nigeria’s economic future, and protecting infrastructure is non-negotiable.”
