NITRA-ALTON CNII Conference Gets New Date as Stakeholders Tackle Telecom Infrastructure Security and Sustainability

The Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) & Sustainability Conference 2025 has been rescheduled to August 7, 2025, in Lagos. The conference aims to foster a comprehensive industry-wide conversation following the recent declaration of telecom infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) by Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator.

This designation classifies telecom infrastructure as a vital national resource, underscoring the urgency to safeguard it from threats that could jeopardize national security and economic stability.

The conference, themed “Industry Sustainability and CNII Conference 2025 – Way Forward,” seeks to address the real-world challenges of implementing the CNI status. It will bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholders including telecom operators, infrastructure companies, security agencies, regulators, and government officials, all of whom will converge to define a workable implementation strategy.

The event is being organized as a collaborative effort between the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) and telecom operators under the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON). It was initially scheduled for July 30, 2025, but had to be moved due to a prior all-inclusive telecom stakeholders’ event organized by the industry regulator.

Further reinforcing its significance, the conference enjoys the support of other key bodies such as the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). Despite the passing of the ‘Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024‘ in August 2024, its full impact is yet to be felt across the sector—a gap the upcoming conference hopes to address.

In a statement announcing the forum, NITRA emphasized that the declaration of the CNII order alone is insufficient to protect national infrastructure. The association noted that, “mere declaration of the CNII order as an Act cannot solely guarantee infrastructure safety except certain internal and standardisation issues are first resolved by operators.” The forum, therefore, aims to bring all relevant players together to address these concerns.

The event, scheduled to take place at CitiHeight Hotel, Ikeja, will focus on how the CNII framework can be translated from policy into action. According to the organizers, passage of the law alone will not yield desired outcomes unless practical and collaborative strategies are developed and implemented.

As part of the agenda, stakeholders are expected to deliberate on critical questions such as:

• How do we ensure that this law is implemented to the letter?

• Are there areas worth looking into once more, or is the Act perfect as it is?

• What are the roles of each stakeholder in the industry – Federal, States, Operators, Consumers, and other actors?

• Are individual telecom companies and service providers keying into the CNII provisions, and how?

• What are the roles of regulators in ensuring public compliance to the Act?

• How do we ensure security?

• What is the place of collaboration?

• Publicity: how much of the CNII provisions are the public aware of?

• How can we sustain the growth and development of telecommunications in Nigeria?

These questions will form the basis of panel discussions during the conference, as stakeholders seek to explore both policy and operational aspects of industry sustainability and infrastructure protection.

Dignitaries expected at the event include the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, network operators, infrastructure companies, security agencies, media professionals, regulators, and decision-makers from public and private organizations.

In a statement, NITRA highlighted the critical importance of CNII to national wellbeing, stressing that “the destruction or disruption of these systems and communication networks would significantly affect the economic strength, image, defense and security, government capabilities to function, and public health and safety.”

Reinforcing this point, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of ALTON, previously underscored the necessity of maintaining telecom infrastructure and upgrading technology to prevent vandalism and theft—ongoing threats that plague the sector.

Also speaking, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, Chairman of NITRA, reiterated the value of the CNII Conference in bringing stakeholders to the table. He emphasized that the forum is essential for achieving consensus on how best to protect telecom infrastructure, particularly in light of the Federal Government’s official CNII declaration.

Onwuegbuchi noted that with the CNII Act in place, stakeholders will have to formulate implementation measures on provisions of the Act and enforce compliance. Noting that practical outcomes from the Lagos forum will help drive the next phase of Nigeria’s telecom infrastructure protection and development.

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