Chairman of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, Demand Compensation for Damaged Facilities

Chairman of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo

Telecommunication operators (Telcos) are seeking immediate compensation for their facilities that were damaged by persons believed to be members of the Boko Haram sect in the wake of insurgency in the Northern part of the country that led to displacement of many families.


They have therefore asked the federal government to as a matter of urgency consider compensating telecoms operators for the losses they suffered as a result of the attacks on their facilities in the North-east part of the country.

The operators who spoke through their umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), said the need for compensation, became necessary to enable them restore telecoms services to affected areas.

They explained that most communities in the Northern part of the country no longer enjoy telecoms services, which they said is a deprivation of their rights to communicate easily with business partners and loved ones.

Chairman of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, who made the demand in Lagos recently, on behalf of its members, said: "The issue of telecoms infrastructure destruction in the North east cannot be over emphasised. The Association requests the federal government to compensate the service providers because as we have internally displaced people, so also we have internally displaced telecoms operators. It is sad that nobody is talking about the service providers that lost several millions of naira to destruction of their infrastructure."

Adebayo appealed to the government to act fast and compensate the telecoms service providers, insisting that operators will find it extremely difficult  to go back and repair the damaged sites in the affected states, if government continues to overlook the extent of damages.

He however said efforts were being made to meet with relevant authorities for resolution.

The ongoing insurgency in the Northern part of the country has left many telecoms facilities damaged, including the Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), commonly referred to as base stations. Most of them suffered bomb attacks, while some were forcefully pulled down, thus cutting communication links to most communities in the region.

Adebayo said telecoms operators have covered virtually all parts of the country, but regretted a situation where willful destruction of telecoms facilities has become the order of the day in some parts of the country, coupled with challenges faced with government agencies, who often times, deprive operators from rolling out services, while demanding for levies that amount to double taxation.

To address the issue of willful destruction of telecoms facilities, Adebayo enjoined the government to declare telecoms facilities as critical national infrastructure that will attract some forms of penalty, if damaged.

He equally urged the government to remove all barriers to telecoms service rollout, to enable telecoms operators roll out services fast to areas that needed to be covered. 

Telecom is the most functional public infrastructure that we have as a society today. It has become part of our citizenship status. There are no more black spot in the country in terms of coverage apart for the North eastern states, where the infrastructures were destroyed due to insurgency, Adebayo said.

According by him, "There is no day we do not have power outage, but since telecom operation started in 2001, there has been no day without telecoms signal, and this is important for the public to know and to begin to appreciate the impact of telecoms operation on the economy of the country."