……..Says Damage Threatens Banking, Healthcare, Remote Jobs.
Emmanuel Ikpeama
Technology entrepreneur and CEO of PropTech company Oikus, Israel Ihaza, has said that damage to fibre-optic cables is doing more than disrupting internet browsing – it is costing Nigerians jobs, business opportunities and access to critical services.
Ihaza spoke on TVC’s Breakfast Show following a disclosure by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that over 5,000 fibre-cut incidents were recorded in the first half of 2026, mostly caused by road construction, excavation and civil works.
He said many Nigerians who suffer the effect of a fibre cut never know where the physical damage happened.
“There are people who work remotely, and they rely on some of this internet infrastructure to be able to carry out their activities,” Ihaza said.
He noted that for remote workers, a few hours of downtime could mean missed deadlines and lost opportunities, citing a young Nigerian who complained on social media about losing opportunities due to poor internet.
“And this is some of the issues that we see when fibre optic cut happens,” he said.
According to him, small business owners are equally affected, especially those who depend on POS for transactions.
“Imagine we have, like, 20 local market owners that deal with POS, and these 20 POS are not working, and they have lined up people. That is complete disruption,” he said.
Ihaza emphasized that fibre infrastructure underpins the wider economy.
“It powers businesses, it powers healthcare facilities, it powers the banking sector,” he said.
He explained that fibre cuts are driven by two factors – outright vandalism and accidental damage by people who do not know cables are buried underground.
“There is actual theft, when there is deliberate vandalism. And there’s the part where they don’t know what this infrastructure is like,” he stated.
He urged government and telecom operators to properly label and mark fibre corridors to guide construction workers.
Ihaza also proposed a technology-driven protection strategy for fibre routes.
“Some type of technology can be utilised,” he said, advocating CCTV and remote monitoring on critical fibre routes, with drone surveillance as part of a broader system.
“We have remote monitoring, where we have probably CCTV surveillance on critical areas where these cables are,” he said.
He suggested leveraging surveillance cameras to capture and deter illegal excavation, similar to how ANPR cameras track speeding vehicles.
“Just the same way cars, you can’t just speed, and the car’s captured, and then ANPRs, cameras, we can leverage that even in some of these key places,” he noted.
Ihaza said such technology must be complemented by public awareness and better coordination between government agencies, telecom operators and construction companies.
He added that local governments have a key role to play since fibre lines pass through communities, and local safety personnel could be trained to identify and safeguard fibre locations.
“They should be able to say, ‘What… that? Be careful, there are cables here,'” he said.
The NCC has described telecom infrastructure as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) and called for stronger collaboration to protect it, warning that it supports banking, healthcare, education, commerce, security and emergency communications.
For Ihaza, protecting fibre is now central to Nigeria’s data economy.
“This infrastructure is powering the data economy here in Nigeria today,” he said, adding that digital literacy is no longer optional.
“Digital literacy is no longer just for a tech bro or a tech sis kind of thing. It’s becoming a survival skill.”
