The federal government has expressed excitement over the successful hosting of the first-ever International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Abuja.
It also expressed optimism that the resolutions reached at the summit would be effectively implemented to enhance digital inclusion and improve global telecommunication services.
Describing the benefits as far-reaching, the government reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to driving the nation’s economic growth through digital platforms and enhanced connectivity.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, made this known during his closing remarks at the summit held at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
Tijani, who also serves as the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for International Submarine Cable Resilience, expressed gratitude to over 300 participants from 194 ITU-member countries, noting that Nigeria was honoured to host such a significant event successfully.
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Leading key figures from Nigeria’s digital ecosystem, the minister was joined at the summit by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Innovations, and Digital Economy, Engr. Faruk Yabo, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Wada Maida, and the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Malam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
Others were the National Commissioner for the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji, the Managing Director of NigComSat, Mrs Jane Egerton-Idehen and the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, Prof Ibrahim Adeyanju.
Speaking with newsmen at the closing of the event, the Secretary General of African Telecommunication Union, John Omo, noted that the conference was an eye-opener as it focused on collective action to tackle the challenges of under-sea cable cuts and disruptions.
He said participants agreed on various strategies and mechanisms to develop marine cable resilience and ensure human and environmental factors that cause disruptions are promptly addressed.
Omo explained that from available statistics, Africa had disadvantages in terms of density as against population, terrain and coastal systems, which prompted more cable cuts than other regions of the world.
“In terms of density as against population, we still have the lowest density worldwide.
“Because of the nature of our terrain and coastal systems, there are a lot more cable cuts in Africa than in any other region of the world.
“We have not had sufficient collaborative frameworks, even within countries or within our region, in terms of how to deal with this phenomenon, if there is a cable cut.
“If you think of issues of piracy and fishing in East Coast of Africa, we recently had a major cable cut.
“We need to have a system where every person in the ecosystem knows what to do in the event of a cable cut; it is an emergency, and we have to deal with it,” Omo said.
Also, Prof Sandra Maximiano, Co-Chair of the Advisory Body for International Submarine Cable Resilience, said the declaration at the Summit showed a big commitment of all the organisations to work together into building more resilience for the submarine cable ecosystem.
Maximiano said the advisory board had formed three working groups that would deal with different aspects, like risk mitigation, fostering collaboration, and timely deployment of repair works on submarine cables.
“We created these working groups so that they will synergise and submit their reports to the advisory board, after which there will be a timeline for implementation.”