Executive secretary of ATCON, Mr. Ajibola Olude has said the association represents many telecoms companies that are likely to be affected when the execution of the highway starts if proper relocation exercise is not carried out. ATCON therefore requests that the association be carried along as the project commences, expressing readiness to work closely with the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that all telecoms facilities along the earmarked routes are carefully relocated.
Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, has also expressed worry about the likely impact of the planned construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway on telecoms facilities, especially submarine cables.
According to Adebayo, telecom operators had earlier received approval on Right of Way (RoW) from the government before routing the submarine cables along that axis after they landed at the shores of the country; the federal government ought to have followed the distance approved for RoW for telecoms facilities when mapping out Lagos-Calabar coastal high way, to avoid encroaching on the corridors of existing telecoms facilities.
“Addressing the Afiber optic cut problem is not just about fixing cables; it‘s about building a more connected future for Nigeria. A robust and reliable telecom infrastructure is essential for economic growth and social development. By prioritizing the protection of these vital connections, Nigeria can ensure a more stable, efficient, and inclusive digital landscape for all”, Adebayo said.
He therefore called on the federal government to begin consultations with telecom operators to have meaningful discussions on the relocation of the submarine cables and the cost implications for the relocation.
ATCON president, Tony Emoekpere, identified that major road construction works contribute almost 80 percent to potential fiber cuts meaning that there is a need for engagement between the construction companies and the regulator, federal and state ministries to have preemptive steps taken while these road constructions are being undertaken. “Why don’t we, for example, make it a standard whereby building of ducts is factored into the cost of deploying these roads rather than people reinstalling them?” he stated.
Emoekpere therefore suggested underground cable ducts, to prevent future cable cuts, adding that burying fiber optic cables in underground ducts offers superior protection from accidental damage during construction and vandalism. This approach, according to him has been successfully implemented in countries like Rwanda and Kenya, significantly reducing fiber optic cuts.
Following these suggestions by operators, critical telecom infrastructure and submarine cables, among other things, have been spared, as the federal government has deferred and redirected realignment of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road projects.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed this while addressing stakeholders meeting in Lagos on Compensation and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the coastal road project informed community groups and traditional institutions in the state, particularly the Okun-Ajah community in Lagos.
With the presidential directive, Telcos, MTN submarine cables, and workstations along the Okun-Ajah community axis have been saved from demolition after a thorough assessment of the EIA impact on infrastructure and business activities along the Okun-Ajah community axis.
Umahi buttressed the need to redesign the route to save the 600 years of the ancestry of the Okun-Ajah community, adding that, the president, out of compassion to realize the project, added human phase to save property and infrastructure of the Okun-Ajah axis while applauding efforts of the president to divert alignment routes to save the communities from the ongoing demolition exercise stretching along the indigenous communities in the state.
Also speaking, the Group CEO, of Machine and Equipment Consortiums Africa, Mr. Iliyasu Abdullah said, three critical infrastructures located along the Okun-Ajah community had existed for 17 years, adding that, the submarine cables, and workstation that give support to infrastructure are critical infrastructure that forms significant part of the Internet gateway while applauding efforts of the federal government to save major national infrastructure.
Speaking on behalf of telecoms operators, the former president of ATCON, Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani applauded the federal government’s plan to reroute the Lagos-Calabar road construction, as an effort to save critical telecommunication infrastructure.
