By 
By Oluwaseun Ajayi,
President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Ikechukwu Nnamani, has tasked stakeholders on the urgent need to ensure bills and policies designed for protection of critical national infrastructure (CNI), become laws.
The ATCON’s president was speaking at the recent ‘National Stakeholders Summit on: Protecting the Integrity of Nigeria’s Critical Infrastructure, Monuments and Business Assets.’
His words: “Nigerian cannot therefore afford not to put in place all the building blocks to address the current challenges facing the country in the area of critical national infrastructure, monuments, and business assets.
“The time has come to sign and give effects to all pending bills and policies necessary to secure the assets of Nigeria.”
With its members drawn from about nine business segments of the telecom and ICT sector, ATCON is the premier telecommunications and ICT association in Nigeria.
“The subject matter of this keynote address is therefore one that ATCON is very familiar with as it represents the core of our daily activities,” added Nnamani.
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ATCON has ceaselessly called on the National Assembly (NASS), to pass the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) Bill, warning that non-passage of the bill will constitute a major hindrance to growth in the sector.
According to Nnamani, the state of the Nigerian Critical Infrastructure, Monuments, and Business Assets unfortunately is not the ideal situation that will result in the maximum benefits to the citizens.”
He said the key challenges being faced in the area of Nigeria’s Critical Infrastructure includes “uneven spread of critical infrastructure across the country; vandalism and theft; lack of cooperation by many states and local governments with private sector to enable implementation of much needed infrastructure; destruction of infrastructure as a result of security unrest in parts of the country; lack of human capital; and lack of adequate funding
He itemised challenges with business assets to include lack of timely protection from security organs during crises; lack of public utility and infrastructure leading to high cost of business; and lack of ideal long-term financing options.
For monuments and artifacts, the challenges include lack of maintenance culture; lack of proper inventory and identification; theft and vandalism and need for creations of new monuments and artifacts.
But there are positive outlooks despite the challenges., Nnamani affirmed.
“I am gladdened by the efforts being made to address these issues. The conveyance of this summit is a testament that these challenges have been identified and the will exists to address them.”
The ATCON’s president added: “The efforts by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) in developing policies and guidelines to protect the critical infrastructure is very commendable.
“The latest edition of Nigeria’s National Security Strategy (NNSS) 2019, captured and emphasised the urgent need for safeguarding these assets. Key components of the strategy document include the objectives of identifying, classifying and prioritizing Critical National Assets and Infrastructure (CNAI) and to determine appropriate levels of protection required for each CNAI or groups of CNAI; enhance the resilience of CNAI to hazards; and minimize the effect of attacks or disasters on CNAI.
“Additionally, the NNSS captured the propensity of the government for the development of a geographical information system (GIS)-based decision support tool which the networks of all stakeholders with contingencies and emergency responses to CNAI protection can contact.”
“It will also involve the development and activation of response protocols at the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) for national security breaches that imperil CNAI. It will conduct periodic inspections and certification of the security preparedness of CNAI.”
