Telecommunication businesses are said to be among the worse hit by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East of the country and would need to spend about N4.8 billion rebuilding blown up masts and base stations in affected areas.
A total of 193 base stations belonging to the country’s four major telecom operators; MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat were blown up in local governments such as Michika, Maiha, Madagili, Gombi, Mubi North and Mubi South in Adamawa; Konduga, Bama, Gwoza among numerous others in Borno; as well as Gujb and Gulani in Yobe state.
The total cost of the 193 masts destroyed comes to N4.8 billion. The cost per base station together with mast and antenna and two generators is N24, 750,000.
MTN, the nation’s largest mobile operator, with over 60 million subscribers and a 42 percent market share, said last year that Boko Haram had destroyed a total of 120 of its sites during periods between 2013 and 2014. A total of 80 sites were destroyed during the last quarter of 2014, according to the company.
In 2013, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) noted that it had recorded about 1, 200 fibre cuts within months.
As a result of the destruction of telecoms equipment and installations, Nigerian subscribers experienced higher frequency of dropped calls, incoherent transmission, and undelivered text messages in the area.
Osondu Nwokoro, Director, Regulatory Affairs, Airtel Nigeria, at a media briefing in 2014, complained that 53 of Airtel’s sites were directly affected by the bomb attacks and huge outages were sustained.
Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Nigeria said at a BusinessDay CEO’s forum that between two and three percent of Nigeria’s telecoms sites are affected by arbitrary shutdown and vandalism at any given time.
However, it has been recently reported that the state of insurgency in the North-Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe has reduced significantly, as the regional military forces, made up of Nigerian, Chadian and Cameroonian soldiers rout Boko Haram.
Lanre Ajayi, national president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) told BusinessDay in a telephone interview that “it would be wise for the individual operators to re-evealuate the scenario properly before going ahead to invest billions on rebuilding destroyed base stations.
“However, if they feel that the situation is fully under control and there is no possibility of damage re-occurrence, then they can go ahead with regular operations in the North-Eastern states,” he said.
Chambers of Commerce chieftains in the North-East had recently told BusinessDay that there it was clear that the Boko Haram insurgency had been severly degraded by the military and that businesses which had shut down were warming up to resume.
They also said there were indications farmers would return to their fields in the rainy season which kicks-off between late February and early March.
Abdulrahaman Modibbo Girei, President Adamawa chamber of commerce told BusinessDay that people, including the business community, no longer entertain the idea of running away as they await opportunities and go about their business without necessarily waiting for government’s provision, seeing as the military had weakened Boko Haram and captured more terretories that were previously in the grasp of the insurgents.
This optimism might have been slowed down somewhat by a resumed spate of hit and run attacks , as well as suicide bombings by the sect in the past week.
Some security experts say however that Boko Haram is in the final thoes of death, as the multi-national forces have reclaimed all the physical spaces the sect formerly held.
They add that Boko Haram’s movement within local spaces and across borders has been severely curtailed by tighter military controls and that local populations are volunteering information on suspicious activities.
Jumoke Akiyode
