Perpetua Onuegbu/ Segun Agbolade
Abuja – Mr Jeremiah Okoh, an ICT expert says every serious minded organisations, including the government using internet facility must as a matter of necessity have a backup system in the event of a failure.
Okoh, who is a Manager in Procontec Communications, an ICT company, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.
He was speaking against the backdrop of the poor internet services being experienced by some federal ministries and parastatals in the past week.
The Galaxy Backbone, a Federal Government Information and Communications Technology service provider is an organisation with the mandate to provide common internet service platform for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Okoh said that no human system was infallible and therefore it was not something out of the ordinary that there was problem with the fibre optic that supplies the nation’s internet connectivity.
“But the way out is basically any company that is dependent on internet is not supposed to be reliant on one source, that is why there are usually redundant sources of internet.
“When internet companies send satellite into space, they are always putting what is called redundant transpondence because you cannot go to the space trying to fix a satellite or always trying to call it back.
“Once one of the parts fails, another picks up, another one fails, the redundant one picks up, it will take a long period of time before a satellite is said to have failed completely.’’ Okoh said.
Okoh said that the essence was that if any company, government or private sector was depending on internet for heir work, they should have more than one source of internet.
“For instance, I have an Etisalat modem, I have MTN and I also use Airtel, it is impossible for all three to be out at the same time.
“Things like these are bound to always happen. Like banks cannot start complaining that one source is out because they cannot take the risk of not being online at any point in time, that is why it is advised to always have a redundant one.
“I think for individuals and companies who use internet, the best option is always having a backup plan.’’
The expert said that the service providers that could not meet up with their terms of agreement to their clients must be held responsible.
A reliable source in Galaxy Backbone however appealed to the public for understanding, assuring that before the close of work on Friday (June 23), the services would improve.
“This is because authority has been acquired from alternative sources and payment has been made,’’ the source said.
A statement from MainOne, a leading service provider of wholesale services to major telecom operators, government agencies and large enterprises in West Africa said it had a fault on its the submarine cable system since June 18.
The Managing Director of MainOne, Mr Funke Opeke said in the statement that some Nigerians were likely to experience internet service disruption and possible outage for 14 days due to the fault.
Opeke said the service outage was the first of its kind in seven years since the cable system came into operation, adding that the company was doing all it could to see to the correction of the fault with support of the Atlantic Cable Maintenance and Repair Agreement (ACMA).