NATCOMs activation of CNI law

Subscribers have expressed worries over the increasing rate of fibre cuts, which is affecting the quality of telephony services in the country. The President, National Association of Telecom Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, spoke to The Guardian, yesterday, on the incessant service outages, especially in the northern part of the country.

He called for urgent interventions from both the Federal and state governments to tackle the menace headlong. Recall that the network status report released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that residents of three Nigerian states were subjected to service blackouts as MTN and 9mobile suffered simultaneous fibre cuts in Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara in the last week of May. There were also reported cases in Borno and Adamawa states.

The report had earlier revealed that in early May, the telecommunications sector experienced 33 major network outages, driven by a surge in vandalism, fibre-optic cable cuts, and persistent power shortages.

From May 29 till yesterday, the impacts of fibre cuts in Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Yobe remained, crippling businesses in the region. The report indicates that residents of the affected areas in the three states have been unable to make voice calls, send SMS or use data.

Affected communities, according to the NCC report, include Aliero, Anka, Arewa Dandi, Argungu, Augie, Bagudo, Bakura, Binji, Birnin Kebbi, Bodinga, Dange Shuni, Fakai, and Gada.

Others are Goronyo, Gummi, Kebbe, Maiyama, Maru, Rabah, Sakaba, Shagari, Silame, Sokoto North, Sokoto South, Talata-Mafara, Tambuwal, Tangaza, Tureta, Wamako, Wurno, and Yabo.

Ogunbanjo said the Critical National Infrastructure law should be activated immediately and made punitive to be able to deter vandals from perpetrating more damage.

“The fact is that this challenge is affecting peoples’ commercial lives, be it banking, entertainment, health, security, among others. For instance, it is now taking forever to be able to carry out simple bank transfers and others. I think urgent measures should be deployed to nip this menace in the bud,” he stated.

According to him, state governments and telecom operators should align strategies, especially in the areas of sensitisation, especially construction workers in their respective domains about fibres that are laid under the ground, to forestall further damage.

The NATCOMS boss also used the opportunity to appeal to operators to improve their service offerings across the states, stressing that despite the 50 per cent tariff hike, the quality of service had rather gone from bad to worse.

“Just carry out a survey, you will understand what I am saying. The agreement NATCOMs had with the Nigeria Labour Congress was to see a tariff hike of 35 per cent, but the telcos were granted 50 per cent. It is time for them to justify the need for the 50 per cent hike. Subscribers should not pay for services they are not enjoying.”

A senior official, Broadbased Communications, Jude Ighomena, said despite existing regulations, fibre cuts had persisted, highlighting the urgent need for redress and compensation mechanisms.

Ighomena, who said offenders must be held accountable, advocated stricter enforcement and implementation of preventive strategies to safeguard telecoms investments. He listed key causes of fibre cuts as construction and urban development, illegal excavation and vandalism and multiple regulatory authorities.