- Urges governors to scrap right of way fees
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has raised alarm over the growing vandalism of telecom infrastructure across the country, revealing that more than 19,000 fibre cuts were recorded between January and August 2025.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission Aminu Maida disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, October 7, at a Business Roundtable on Improving Investments in Broadband Connectivity and Safeguarding Critical National Infrastructure.
Maida said the alarming rate of vandalism, coupled with high Right of Way (RoW) charges by some states, was crippling broadband expansion and threatening the country’s digital future.
The EVC said that between January and August this year alone, Nigeria recorded 19,384 fibre cut incidents, 3,241 cases of equipment theft, and over 19,000 denials of access to telecom sites.
He warned that these disruptions had caused prolonged outages, revenue losses, and increased security costs for operators, adding that the trend prompted the need for urgent action to protect telecom infrastructure nationwide.
The NCC boss noted that the continued attacks on telecom infrastructure were eroding investor confidence and jeopardising Nigeria’s target of achieving 70 per cent broadband penetration by the end of 2025 under the National Broadband Plan.
Maida further appealed to state governments to scrap Right of Way fees entirely or, at the minimum, align with the N145 per metre benchmark approved by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to accelerate fibre deployment across the country.
He revealed that while 11 states, including Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Enugu, and Zamfara, had adopted a zero RoW policy, many others were still charging arbitrary fees that discourage investment and delay broadband rollout.
“Every governor holds a lever that can determine the prosperity or stagnation of their states. Waiving RoW charges, protecting telecom infrastructure, and supporting fibre deployment will unlock billions in digital investment and job creation,” he stated.
Maida commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for signing the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Presidential Order in June 2024, which legally protects telecom assets as critical national infrastructure.
He said the NCC, working closely with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), had begun enforcing the order to tackle vandalism, theft, and service disruptions, adding that ONSA had already dismantled major cartels responsible for stealing telecommunications equipment nationwide.
