Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, said there were no instructions for telecommunication operators to disrupt network services because of the protest.
Tijani spoke on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television.
Nigerians reported experiencing bad internet connectivity across all service providers on Thursday, with many describing the development as part of the federal government’s tactic to stifle protesters.
But the minister, speaking on the issue, denied the federal government’s involvement in the network disruption.
“There’s no instruction to tamper with the network, absolutely no instruction from my office,” he said.
“You also need to understand when you have a significant amount of people not at work, people are online. So you expect the traffic will be extremely high. And I’m not saying that’s the cause.
“Our mandate and role as government are not just only to drive these people to be responsive, but also to ensure that there are the proper investments in the infrastructure that we require to produce and provide the quality of service that people need.”
Tijani also said there is still a significant lag for Nigeria to have good quality telecommunications and connectivity service.
“We need 125,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable lead. We’ve only invested as a nation, the private sector, 85,000 kilometres,” he added.
“This is the project that this government is prioritising. FEC has already approved this. Unfortunately, it won’t be done in six months.”
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