The Signals Are Dying. And Nobody’s Listening.
Byline: IDNN Infrastructure Desk
The Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has sounded a five-alarm warning: Nigeria’s entire digital infrastructure is under siege — and the government is barely responding.
Between May and July, coordinated vandalism hit telecom towers, batteries, fibre cables, and generators in Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Osun, Ogun, Abuja, and more.
“We modernized everything — laid fibre, upgraded transmission, built redundancies. Then came the saboteurs,” said a senior telco executive.
They’re not exaggerating. In just 60 days:
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80+ sites in Lagos vandalized
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Diesel generators carted off in daylight
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Batteries sold in black markets
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Fibre lines dug up and melted for copper resale
ALTON warns that network blackouts, congested calls, and data disruptions will worsen. It’s not an “if” — it’s already happening.
Criminal Gangs Exploiting Security Vacuum
What’s worse? The attacks are growing bolder.
“It’s organized crime. These are not petty thieves,” said ALTON Chair Gbenga Adebayo.
The association is calling for telecom infrastructure to be declared Critical National Assets, protected by military-grade surveillance and legal penalties.
Until then, every Nigerian call, text, transaction, or data session is hanging by a thread.