Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has called on road construction companies, contractors, engineers and other stakeholders to strengthen coordination and adopt preventive measures to protect fibre-optic cables during road construction, rehabilitation and other civil works across the country. According to the EVC, communications infrastructure has become a critical national lifeline, underpinning banking, government services, education, healthcare, commerce, security and emergency communications. He noted that damage to fibre infrastructure could disrupt essential services and impose significant costs on citizens and the wider economy. The EVC disclosed that more than 5,000 fibre-cut incidents were recorded in the first six months of the year because of road construction, excavation, and related civil works. He explained that the designation requires telecommunications infrastructure to be treated as national infrastructure and protected accordingly, with appropriate legal, regulatory and remedial consequences for damage.