Abuja – Some Telecom experts in Abuja on Thursday, called on concern Nigerians to help protect and fight against vandalism of telecoms infrastructure and equipments to ensure the growth in the industry.
Mr Emmanuel Okeh, an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that some suspected vandals were arrested by the corps a couple of months back.
He said that some had been prosecuted according to analysis of statistic of arrested vandals of telecom infrastructure in various parts of the country.
Okeh said that most of the suspects were caught in the act following information made available to NSCDC officials by members of the public.
“The name of some of the suspects are published on our website for the public to know.
“The destruction and vandalism of telecoms infrastructure and equipment has become a big challenge in Nigeria’s highly competitive telecoms market.
“In view of this, we are calling on concern Nigerians to support the security agencies to fight the perpetrators of these acts of vandalism,’’ he said.
Mrs Deborah Ajakaye, a transmission engineer with Vodafone called on the regulators to give full legal backing to the prosecution of anyone caught destroying or tampering with telecoms facilities.
“There should be laws to protect the lives of telecoms workers especially the field officials.
“Most of the time, when the engineers visit some of the base stations, the thugs beats them up because of the lack of security or any rescue plan in case of attack or legal back up to prosecute the hoodlums when arrested.
“The exponential growth rate experienced in the telecoms sector and the attendant benefits have been hailed as models for other sectors.
“In view of this, whatever that has to do with the industry should be handled with care to prevent injustice in the sector, especially as it concerns workers.
It will be recalled that Mr Eugene Juwah, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had expressed concern over the rising incidence of damage to network infrastructure caused by vandals in the country.
Mr Demian Alex, an official of MTN Nigeria said the sector had continued to groan under the rising incidence of vandalism to network infrastructure caused by vandals in some parts of the country.
“Nigeria is the largest mobile market in Africa in terms of subscribers and the continent’s second largest in terms of revenue.
“The vandalism of millions of naira worth of equipments has added to the problems of the telecoms networks in the country.
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“If this is not checked, in the next few years it would affect the growth of the industry in the country.
“Telecoms is one of the world’s fastest growing industry and Nigeria is the largest market in Africa which is a major reason to focus on the protection of its facilities in the country,” he said. (NAN)
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