According to Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, telecom infrastructure is crucial to the success of the elections in 2023; as a result, every Nigerian in every community should work together to defend it for the good of the nation.
Danbatta, who was a special guest at the 6th Edition of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) Annual Conference in Lagos over the weekend with attention on the upcoming election and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in attendance, said there was a need to ensure the fidelity of the transmission systems to enhance the effectiveness of the election.
“If telecom infrastructure is vandalised or damaged, it would create problems in the area of the data transmission during the election; citizens will find it difficult to use their phones to seamlessly communicate and the journalists too might find it difficult in being able to access their web platforms to disseminate necessary information which members of the public require to make informed decisions at every point in time,” he said.
Danbatta recalled that, over the years, the telecoms sector has continued to face destabilising situations arising from negative attitudes and actions of hostile communities; theft of diesel, batteries, and power generators from telecom base stations; digging up and cutting of fibre optic cables by construction workers; indiscriminate sealing/locking-up of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites by state governments, other governmental and community stakeholders; as well as other disruptive activities which must be decisively tackled.