In this two-part report, SOLOMON ODENIYI writes on the ordeals of some communities in the Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna. He finds out that the communities are without telecommunication coverage and bandits have capitalised on this to unleash mayhem on the residents at will
Residents await installation of mast
During this reporter’s visit, it was discovered that a small mast had been erected but had yet to commence work, six months after.
The residents told our correspondent their excitement knew no bounds when the mast was erected in Awon. They felt an end had come to their problems.
But Yemi Yakubu, whose house is next to the mast, told our correspondent that six months after the mast was erected, the engineers who brought it had not been seen, adding that nothing had been heard from them.
She said,” I was very excited when they came to install this. I shouted and called others to come and see. We have mobile phones but no network, so everyone was happy. We expected that a week after, it will begin to work but we have not seen them for like six months and we have not even heard from them. The pain is much more when you have something and use can’t you than not having at all. “
Yakubu pleaded with the government to see to the quick installation of the mast to ameliorate the pain of residents.
She said, “It is just like we are in prison, there is nowhere people outside the community can communicate with us. We cannot communicate with them either. The bandits are leveraging this to attack us.”
Our correspondent went close to the mast and saw a telephone number inscribed on it, the number was called to find out why the mast had yet to commence work. A man who identified himself as Engineer Ado Shehu told our correspondent they were awaiting some equipment from Lagos.
He also said the insecurity in the areas was another reason for the delay in the installation of the mast, promising that with our correspondent’s inquiry, they would expedite action on the availability of networks in the affected communities.
Shehu said, “You are right it has not been installed. We just mounted it. We are waiting for the delivery of some equipment we would take there. I can assure you that very soon we shall visit there. We also have concerns about the level of insecurity in those communities which is another issue we are faced with. The last time we were there, we were escorted there. Please be rest assured we will be there very soon, especially now that you have called us.”
Also, the state government was contacted to know if it would be addressing the concern Shehu raised but the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, did not pick up several calls from our reporter. He has also yet to respond to the message sent to him.
Since Nigeria’s telecommunications sector was fully deregulated in 2001, it had led to an increase in the number of telephone users in the country. It has also become an important tool for business expansion and growth, thereby contributing to the nation’s economy.
A report by the National Bureau of Statistics said despite the numerous challenges that confronted the telecommunication and information service industry in the first six months of 2022, it contributed N4.84tn to the nation’s real Gross Domestic Product in the first two quarters of 2022 according to data from the.
The report added that the figure was an increase from N4.37tn the sector contributed to the GDP in the corresponding period of 2021.
Similarly, at a Cyberchain event in Abuja last year, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Umar Danbatta, said that the technology-driven telecom sector had helped Nigeria’s economy by $70 billion.
He added that the telecom industry has improved the lives of millions of Nigerians and created over 500,000 jobs in both the public and private sectors.
Certainly, residents of these communities who are part of the 31.6 million Nigerians living in areas without telecommunication coverage in no fewer than 114 clusters as of the fourth quarter of 2019 according to the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy have been left behind in enjoying the dividend that comes with having network coverage.
And with the 2019 World Bank assessment of the sector, where it stated that Nigeria is capturing only a fraction of its digital economic potential, this implies that there must be strategic investments to ensure the 25 communities and others are covered for the country to realise its full potential.
Efforts to get the NCC through its spokesperson, Ruben Muoka were not successful. He did not pick up his calls and a message sent to his line was not replied to. Our correspondent wanted to know the commission’s effort to ensure many communities are covered.
The Executive Secretary, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Ajibola Olude declined to comment when contacted. He referred our correspondent to the NCC.
The Kaduna Police spokesperson, Mohammed Jalige did not also pick up his calls and was yet to respond to a message sent to him on the efforts of the force to secure the communities.
Business, security experts weigh in
A security expert, Timothy Avele said the communities’ inability to quickly communicate among themselves and with the law enforcement agencies in the area would continue to make residents vulnerable to criminals.
He said, “In fact in the Intelligence community, communication is the bloodline of actionable intelligence. No matter how good or accurate intelligence information is, without timely delivery of such information to the users (law enforcement, military, government, etc) it becomes useless.”
He also advised that the communities purchase a walkie-talkie which should be linked to key security agencies in the area.
Avele said, “Alternatively, why don’t they use long-distance radio (walkie-talkie) . All the communities could contribute to having one improvised base station, repeater, and several radios. This will be linked automatically to key security agencies and even the government if they’re serious.
“They do not also charge on calls. It does not use SIM cards. One beauty of this system is that, once there’s a threat or an attack in one community, every other community with the radio is instantly aware, including the security agencies and even the government. There is nothing like network failure. Some setups could go 50-100km radius.”
Although Avele said these should be the responsibilities of the government, he stressed that “When the situation is desperate, the community should not continue to wait.”
He also urged the communities to adopt the Buffalo counter-offensive technique to protect themselves but warned that without effective communication among the communities, this may be counterproductive.
Avele said, “The villagers once could adopt the buffalo counter-offensive techniques to protect themselves. It’s one of the best defensive methods of all ages. It’s a simple technique where the weaker party unites and comes out en masse to defend the other weak party that has been attacked by a stronger opponent with superior weapons.
“The key weapon is ambush and surprise elements on the stronger and heavily armed attackers. So when they communicate at once, they prepare and wait for the attackers. You could defeat an army as strong as the U.S. army with a surprise element and just cutlasses.
“It’s also good for them to do preventive self-defence by learning counter surveillance and basic protective intelligence operations. But all these will amount to nothing if no active communication and reporting mechanism is in place as discussed above. “
On his part, a former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf described the situation in the communities as traumatic.
He said, “In an environment where there is insecurity, it is impossible to do any business. The economic activities of these areas have been completely paralyzed when this is done, how can the residents make a living? 95 per cent of these people must be self-employed and not civil servants who earn at the end of the month. That is an invitation to hunger and extreme deprivation. It is a very traumatic situation.
“On the other hand, you must communicate to be able to do business, especially in this digital era. In these areas, financial transactions would collapse. Without telecommunication coverage, it will be extremely difficult to do business. Telecom provides an opportunity for communication, and an opportunity to use ICT to manage businesses. The speed of transactions would be affected. There are transactions they can conclude on the phone but they would have to be there physically, and it is at an additional cost to them.”
