…Calls for probe of network firms.
by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
A former presidential aspirant of Labour Party and leader of Rescue Movement of Nigeria, (RMN), a Human Rights Group, Comrade Faduri Oluwadare Joseph, has berated telecommunication companies in Nigeria over the poor quality of services offering Nigerians.
Mr. Oluwadare spoke to a group of journalists shortly after his podcast, following the poor network experienced during his online meeting with national leaders of the Human Rights group.
Faduri, also known as “Fadojoe,” lamented that twenty years after the deregulation of the telecommunication sector, and the entry of service providers like MTN, Airtel (Econet), Globacom, Etisalat and others into the county, the quality of services provided by most of the telecommunication companies remain very poor.
The human rights activist noted that, in order to avoid poor service delivery of the network providers, Nigerians have resorted into having two or more phones with different service providers; yet, it did not stop “drop calls or poor services.”
“Fadojoe” noted that, while telecommunication outfits in the country are getting richer, smiling to the banks with huge profits, Nigerians are getting so poor services for their monies.
He also noted that it’s so pathetic that “when Nigerians load units to make calls, before making few minutes call, the units is exhausted. And data loaded also gets whipped off before you browse for some hours.”
The US-based activist asserted that, while in USA, he has no reason to carry a second line as over there, they are enjoying good network and better services for their money, which is totally different when it comes to those living in Nigeria.
He wondered why the National Assembly’s committees on communication and other agencies with oversight functions have refused to act on the situation.
The rights activist then urged President Bola Ahmad Tinubu to probe the activities of these service providers with the aim of rectifying the anomalies.
Accordingly, he charged members of the National Assembly to as a matter of importance, investigate the reasons network services are very poor in the country.
He also urged the companies in the sector to upgrade or modernize their equipment, in order to provide seamless services.
“In 1999, the GSM was introduced to Nigeria by the administration of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigerians could then communicate with the outside world, call people on their cell phones, and it was very wonderful. This was a major breakthrough and commendable.
“However, twenty years down the line many telecommunication service providers have entered into the country to provide network services to citizens. While these companies are making huge profits, Nigerians are experiencing poor network services.
“And bad as it is, Nigerians cannot even enjoy their data and airtime. If you load your phone with units to make calls, before you know what is happening, it’s finished. Once they buy the data and use few minutes, it’s whipped off, as if something is whipping off your data.
“Nigeria is ripe enough to enjoy unlimited data subscription like having unlimited data truly for a good price – like is done in other parts of the world.
“And not the so-called ‘unlimited data’ in Nigeria that will turn out to be more limited than the limited data subscription: as the so-called unlimited will finish within two-to-three weeks of browsing and you will be wondering what you used the data for; yet, such is referred to as ‘monthly unlimited’ in Nigeria.
“This is unbearable and, if there is anything more to talk about, it’s the fact that nobody seems to be talking about it. Therefore, I am using this media to appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to launch a probe into reasons why network services are bad or poor in Nigeria,” he stated.
