FG Requests An Examination Of International Laws To Safeguard Underwater Cables

To safeguard underwater cables, the federal government is requesting that regional and international rules be reviewed. According to the Nigerian government, it will work with nations like Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, and others to quicken these efforts.

A subsea cable cut in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa, has left bank and telecom customers stuck since Thursday, paralyzing digital transactions and internet connections. A subsea cable cut in the Atlantic Ocean has been blamed for the network outage by mobile network operators such as MTN and some banks.

The underwater cable cut that has caused internet service disruptions in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, and other West African and East African countries during the past four days may take up to two weeks to fix, according to MainOne, a submarine cable firm.

The cut was ascribed by the firm to fishing operations, anchoring in shallow waters close to the coast, and natural disasters like landslides and earthquakes, followed by equipment failure.

“We will gather more information when the cable is retrieved during the repair exercise, but our preliminary analysis would suggest some form of seismic activity on the seabed resulted in a break to the cable,” MainOne had stated.

The regrettable submarine cable outage, according to the minister’s article, will contribute to Nigeria’s digital economy’s anti-fragility.

He applauded MainOne’s and the telecoms’ leadership in trying to mitigate the effects of the cuts.

“I will be engaging regional and international bodies to accelerate efforts on this crucial agenda, and we will also have the opportunity to review international laws and collaborations to adequately protect undersea cables,” Tijani stated.

He gave the people who were being disrupted the reassurance that the Nigerian Communication Commission is collaborating with all important parties to find a quick solution.