05 September 2019

Nigeria’s Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has waded into the ongoing row between telecoms operators in Nigeria and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The argument started when the NCAA threatened to demolish approximately 7,000 (some reports said 8,805) communication towers belonging to telecom businesses and others, because the structures do not comply with height restriction and other regulations. 

It then escalated when the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it reported the NCAA’s threat to ONSA because the targeted towers form part of the critical national infrastructure and any attempt at disruption must be approved by the security adviser.

However, the NCAA has remained defiant and said it will tear down masts belonging to organisations that have failed to act. 

The NCC argued that the NCAA’s threat puts national security at risk, claiming the action could trigger communication blackout while financial institutions, which rely on ATMs, would not be able to operate.

“The path the NCCA is towing is not in the best interest of the country as the proposed demolition will have serious security implications,” said NCC’s executive commissioner in charge of stakeholder management. “Thousands of subscribers will lose connectivity, bank ATMs will shut down and critical equipment leveraging telecom infrastructure will no longer function. “NCC expects that at the minimum the NCCA would relate directly with the Commission as the regulator on this matter in the spirit of government inter-agency collaboration towards some sort of arbitration and resolution. To have chosen to make the matter a media issue suggests some kind of subtle ambush against the operators”.

Most operators have complied with the NCAA’s directive to secure an aviation height clearance certificate for every mast installed across Nigeria, regardless of height and location.