Telcos Raise Alarm over Imminent Telecoms Disconnection in FCT, Kogi, Nine Others

•Seek urgent FG’s intervention

Emma Okonji

Telecoms operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have expressed concern over an imminent shutdown of telecommunications facilities in Kogi State as a result of disputes arising from unusual taxes and levies demanded by the state government through its Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KIRS).

ALTON in a statement said the issue could lead to a total shutdown of telecoms facilities in the entire Kogi State, warning that this could also affect parts of Federal Capital Territory, with possible impact on service availability in nine other states, which he listed to include Nassarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, and Niger states.

The states listed share borders with Kogi State.

The operators therefore called on the federal government to call Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to order, to avoid total shutdown of telecoms facilities in the state, which they stressed could also affect neighbouring states.

Giving details of the issue on ground, ALTON, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo and its Head of Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga, stated: “This situation arises as a number of critical telecommunications sites belonging to our members have been closed and sealed up by Kogi State government in an attempt to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collection.

“This action followed an ex-parte court order obtained by the KIRS over unsubstantiated allegations that our members are in default of tax payments to the state government and access to these critical telecom sites has been denied.

 “As result of these actions by the state government, our members are unable to refuel power generators in these sites, a situation which has led to outage of over 70 sites including hub sites across parts of Kogi State.

“Now, with likely impact on nine states surrounding Kogi (namely: Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Niger States. These are States sharing borders with Kogi State), and Abuja the FCT inclusive.

 “We are very concerned that this indiscriminate action has the potential of further leading to a total telecommunications outage in Kogi State with neighboring states and parts of the federal capital territory, adversely impacted.”

The statement further stated: “To the best of our knowledge, our members have settled all statutory levies and taxes due to the Kogi State government and have taken necessary steps to comply with local laws that govern business activities within Kogi State.”

ALTON listed some of the charges from the statement government to include: Annual Right of Way (ROW) renewal; Social Services contribution; Employee Economic Development Levy; Mast site premises renewal; Fire service yearly renewal; from Kogi State Environmental Protection Board on: Payment of environmental levy; Failure to submit an environmental impact assessment report; Failure to register industry; Failure to submit environmental audit report every two years; among others.

The association said it was also worrisome that the action by KIRS could jeopardise communication services provided by its members to security agencies such as the Nigeria Police Force, the Armed Forces in addition and to other emergency and social services in Kogi and other neighboring states.

It added that it would include affecting communication links to Bank Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) across those states.

 ALTON said the outage currently being experienced, was already affecting the ability of its members to provide uninterrupted service delivery to commercial banks, Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other critical agencies of government in the aforementioned locations.

ALTON therefore called on state governments to explore other means of resolving tax related disputes rather than sealing telecommunications sites, saying it is therefore worrisome that the KIRS of Kogi State, continues to ignore such advice.