Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, has refuted claims that the government instructed telecommunication operators to disrupt network services during the recent protests.
On Thursday, many Nigerians experienced poor internet connectivity across all service providers, leading to speculation that the federal government was attempting to stifle the protests. However, Tijani firmly denied any government involvement in the network disruptions.
“There’s no instruction to tamper with the network, absolutely no instruction from my office,” Tijani stated. He suggested that the high volume of online activity, due to many people not being at work, could be a contributing factor to the network issues. “You also need to understand when you have a significant amount of people not at work, people are online. So you expect the traffic will be extremely high. And I’m not saying that’s the cause,” he added.
Tijani emphasized that the government’s role is to ensure responsiveness from service providers and to drive investments in the necessary infrastructure to provide quality service. He highlighted the significant gap in Nigeria’s telecommunications infrastructure, noting that the country requires 125,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable but has only invested in 85,000 kilometers so far.
“We need 125,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable lead. We’ve only invested as a nation, the private sector, 85,000 kilometers. This is the project that this government is prioritizing. FEC has already approved this. Unfortunately, it won’t be done in six months,” Tijani said, indicating that the government is committed to improving telecommunications and connectivity services in Nigeria.