Nigeria has taken the lead in global efforts to strengthen submarine cable resilience and protect the critical infrastructure central to the growth and sustenance of the digital economy in the country and worldwide.
Indications of this development emerged during a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, ahead of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit, which is scheduled to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, from Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
The ITU International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit aims to foster global collaboration, secure innovative solutions, and engage leaders from government, industry, and international organisations to strengthen this vital global digital infrastructure following recent challenges that beset it.
Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, told the news conference in Abuja on Tuesday that the summit, which will bring about 250 experts from several countries, "is the beginning of better and stronger economies globally" as experts fine-tune ways to tackle challenges facing submarine cables.
He said it has become incumbent on Nigeria and other countries to take the lead in this direction, stressing that "about 90% of what we get on the internet, the data that support the internet that we use are derived from the submarine cables." He pointed out that the global community must continue to drive and push for a stronger digital economy, adding that it is essential to ensure the resilience of that infrastructure, which he described as "the real backbone for the digital economy."
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He noted that the Nigerian government is determined to drive its economy into a trillion-dollar economy, a commitment that President Bola Tinubu and the digital sector will play a significant part in achieving the government's dream.
"We need to Leapfrog our sectors and make sure they are competitive to drive value," he said, adding that Nigeria must take global leadership to ensure that it plays a critical part in protecting its digital economy and that of the world.
He challenged stakeholders to strengthen collaboration against natural disasters that may affect submarine cables. In March 2024, for example, cuts in cable disrupted operations and affected many countries, including African countries, some with severe economic impacts.
Deputy Secretary General of the ITU, Tomas Lamanauskas, told the news conference that the world needs to strengthen submarine cable resilience, stressing that the global digital world depends on it because the cables carry the bulk of the traffic across the continents, which are connected digitally.
He said, "We depend on it for everything, from our financial services to our transactions and our social media, business, and entertainment. That means that when disruptions happen, we feel the impact."
He commended Nigeria for its determination to lead the world in the search for credible solutions to the crisis.
He explained that the experts would brainstorm on how to respond to crisis management, recovery efforts, innovation and technology, maintenance, procedures, and legal and regulatory frameworks and set an agenda on what needs to be done globally to ensure that submarine cables are better protected.
