From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Residents of Kogi state and it’s environs are under acute groanings due to the persistent outage of mobile network in the past 10 days as the state government is said to have sealed up operational hubs of the MTN and other telecom providers.
Our Correspondent gathered that the Kogi State Utility Infrastructure Management and Compliance Agency (KUIMCA), had sealed six telecoms hubs connected to several telecoms sites in the state and its environs, demanding payment of huge sums of money as revenue before the hubs will be unsealed.
With the sealing of the telecoms hubs , subscribers in the state can no longer make any call nor have access to internet services while business activities have been paralyzed in the state as the telecoms personnel are said to have been barred from entering into the sites of the hubs.
Rising from an emergency meeting, the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Kogi State, Council frowned at the poor telecommunication services currently being experienced by subscribers in the state, and call on the relevant stakeholders to resolve the issues and restore services without further delay.
In a statement jointly signed by Segun Salami and Abdulrahman Salihu, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, after an emergency meeting of the chapel in Lokoja on Monday, the chapel said the constant outage of mobile network has caused serious Crisis and I capable of worsening the security situation in the state, if not quickly addressed.
“For about a week now, subscribers in the state have been enduring epileptic services from telecommunication operators, notably MTN, Airtel, and Glo. This has been with severe implications for information flow, peace and security, health care delivery, financial and other business transactions, among others.
“To make matters worse, subscribers have been taken for granted without deliberate communication from the operators. A situation where the citizens are left to hear say and rumours of allegations and counter allegations on breaches between operators and regulators leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Subscribers in Kogi, like their peers in Saner Climes, are entitled to an explanation from the relevant stakeholders.
“This nightmare has endured for too long. We therefore call on the different gladiators to put an end to the charade in the interest of national peace, conjugal harmony, and justice. Nigerians are already suffering too much hardship. We do not need to increase their burdens by the frustrations and confusion of poor communication.”