The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has given the assurance that an Executive Order that will ensure the protection of critical national telecommunications infrastructure is already on the table of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
The Minister disclosed this when a team of Media Trust Limited’s management led by the Editor-in-Chief of Daily Trust, Mallam Naziru Mikailu paid him an official visit in his office in Abuja recently.
According to him, the Executive Order is expected to accommodate everything regarding the ICT sector in the country and ultimately, protect telecom infrastructure from vandalism and theft. “An Executive Order is right on the table of Mr. President on the protection of the nation’s National Critical Infrastructures,” the Minister told DailyTrust team.
Dr. Pantami had last month disclosed President Muhammadu Buhari had given a directive to security agencies in Nigeria, including the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to coordinate the protection of telecommunications and ICT infrastructures across the country.
This did not go down well with some stakeholders in the industry, arguing that owing to their critical nature of telecom infrastructure to the country’s economy and security, an Executive Order written and signed by the President and backed by law is the way to go.
In fact, an editorial written by ITPulse had noted that such an Executive Order will do better than some directives to security agencies, which are known to have flouted several directives in the past.
