Nigerian Internet Outage Costs Nation Over 1.549 Trillion Naira

A research firm has estimated a hefty price tag for the recent undersea cable cut that crippled internet access across Nigeria. Based on projections from AI models, the outage could cost the nation over 1.549 trillion Naira. While internet providers scramble for temporary solutions and brace for a repair timeline of two to five weeks, the true impact is only beginning to unfold.

Nigeria’s heavy reliance on the internet for economic activity is a key factor in these projections. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector makes a significant contribution to the nation’s economy, activities in the sector contributed a significant 16.66% to Nigeria’s GDP in Q4 2023, according to The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Assuming a steady daily contribution, a three-day outage translates to a potential loss of over 1.46 billion Naira.

However, the impact extends beyond everyday internet use. The outage significantly hampered Nigerian banking operations, potentially leading to massive transaction losses. Taking into account estimates on the number of bank accounts (around 103.2 million) and assuming an average daily transaction value of 5,000 Naira per account, the total daily banking sector transactions could reach a staggering 516 billion Naira. A three-day outage could thus result in a potential banking sector loss of over 1.548 trillion Naira, bringing the total to over 1.549 trillion Naira.

This analysis comes on the heels of the research firm’s earlier projection that the undersea cable cut inflicted economic losses of over $6.66 billion on West Africa as a whole. The cause of the damage remains shrouded in mystery, with some sources suggesting an attack by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a major cable leading to Africa, causing cascading damage and multiple breaks, particularly off the coast of Ivory Coast.