5,000 Fibre Cuts Show Hidden Cost Of Nigeria’s Road Projects

• More than 5,000 fibre-optic cables were cut during road construction and related works in the first half of 2026.

• NCC says poor coordination before excavation is driving much of the damage.

• Repeated cuts can disrupt internet, mobile services, digital payments and businesses that depend on connectivity.

• Government agencies are now working on a system to protect fibre networks before road projects begin.

August 12, () — Nigeria is spending heavily to improve its roads, but some of those projects are repeatedly damaging another piece of infrastructure the economy now depends on.

More than 5,000 fibre-optic cable cuts were recorded across the country in the first six months of 2026, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. Most were linked to road excavation, construction and rehabilitation work.

NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Aminu Maida, disclosed the figure at a stakeholder workshop in Abuja on Tuesday. He said many of the incidents happened because relevant agencies and contractors did not properly coordinate before work started.

For anyone who has watched their network disappear during roadworks, the number puts a much bigger scale behind a familiar frustration.

A fibre cut can affect far more than a telecom operator. Mobile calls and data services depend on fibre for part of their network infrastructure. Banks, fintechs, businesses, schools and households also rely on those connections to move money, communicate and run daily operations.

That makes repeated damage an infrastructure problem with an economic cost.

One Road Project Can Disrupt A Much Larger Digital Network

Nigeria is still expanding its fibre infrastructure as demand for faster and more reliable internet grows. NCC has previously identified damage from road construction as one of the obstacles to wider fibre deployment.

Road construction and telecommunications infrastructure often occupy the same physical space. Fibre cables may run beneath roads or along routes that later become construction corridors.

Without accurate information about where those cables are located, excavation can turn into an expensive guessing game.

Maida said the commission’s concern is less about assigning blame and more about getting agencies to coordinate before the first excavation begins.

A standing committee involving the Federal Ministries of Works and Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy has now been established to develop procedures for protecting fibre infrastructure during road projects. The Office of the National Security Adviser and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps have also joined the effort.

Coordination may sound administrative, but its consequences are very practical.

Every damaged cable has to be located, repaired and tested. During that period, users along affected routes can experience slower or unavailable services. Telecom operators also incur repair and maintenance costs, while businesses can lose productive time.

Nigeria’s digital economy makes the stakes higher than they were a decade ago.

Point-of-sale terminals, mobile banking, online businesses and remote work all depend on connectivity. A network interruption can therefore reach a merchant trying to receive a payment, a business processing orders or someone simply trying to get online.

Roads remain essential to economic activity. Fibre has become just as important to the digital side of it.

Nigeria’s challenge now is making sure one infrastructure project does not repeatedly damage another.

The NCC’s new coordination effort is to fix that gap before construction begins, rather than wait for another cut to reveal where the cables are buried.