Residents React to Telecom Network Blackout in Kogi

By Itodo Daniel Sule

Mixed reactions have trailed the shutting down of some telecommunications base stations by the Kogi State government over alleged tax defaults.

An Airtel subscriber in Lokoja, Omale James, said he had been unable to make calls, receive calls and access internet services with his line since the facilities were sealed.

On his part, an MTN subscriber, Ogbole Moses said he had been experiencing fluctuating network services on his line in the past few weeks following the development.

He called on the telecommunications service providers and the state government to urgently find ways of resolving the impasse so as to enable subscribers make use of their services.

In the same, those in the banking sector and security agencies in the state have also raised concerns over the negative impacts of the development on their services.

This is just as the Association of of Licensed Telecommunications Operators (ALTON) had raised alarm that 10 states and parts of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) may soon face telecommunications services blackout following tax disputes between Kogi Government and mobile network operators.

Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), who made this known last Monday in Lagos while briefing newsmen on issues affecting the nation’s telecommunications industry, alleged that Kogi State Government had allegedly shut down 150 telecoms base transceiver stations belonging to mobile telecoms operators as a result of disputes arising from taxes and levies.

“The states to be affected include, Nassarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Niger,” he said.

Adebayo alleged that the tax and levies being demanded by Kogi was ‘unusual’ as they had nothing to do with telecommunications services.