The terrorist group largely prevalent in the Northern part of Nigeria, known as Boko Haram – Education is sin; has began to threaten telecommunications infrastructure in the country.
Disclosing this to ITRealms Online, while discussing ‘State of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure at the 2012 Titans of Tech forum in Lagos, Mr. Shola Adeyemi of Airtel Nigeria said telecom operators are now being threatened by the sect terrorist group, who have killed hundreds of Nigerians via terrorist attacks.
Mr. Adeyemi who represented the Director of Government Relations and Regulations at Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Osondu Nwokolo, said that this has become a concern owing to the fact that Boko Haram have threatened government agencies in the past and carried out such threats.
“There are plans to attack telecom infrastructure by Boko Haram based on the fact that we (telecom operators) are assisting security agencies,” he said, adding that aside this threat, some staff of telecom network operators have been physically attacked and even killed in the past as well as infrastructure vandalized.
He also said lamented that states governments are making unnecessary demands through various agencies across the various local, states and federal institutions coming up with simultaneous regulations.
Equally speaking on the issue, outgoing president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu said that the threat by Boko Haram on telecom infrastructure is unfortunately and should be seen as a threat to all Nigerians.
“It’s most unfortunate that Boko Haram is threatening our telecom infrastructure,” he declared, saying that the threat should not be taken lying low.
Although he noted that ATCON is not much worried as the telecom infrastructure in the country is not situated at a particular location or state based on the kind of technology deployed so far which made it possible for various base stations to exist.
He maintained that based on the foregoing, it’s practically impossible to shut down telecom infrastructure in the country as any attempt would mean that networks would be switched automatically.
According to him, if such a threat is carried out, it may
hamper services but not adversely.
Remmy Nweke
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