Telecom operators have raised alarm over the imminent shutdown of telecom service in Abuja, Kogi and nine other states over the shutdown of telecoms facilities.
The operators, acting under the aegis of Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, expressed concern about the shutting down of telecom facilities in Kogi as a result of disputes arising from unusual taxes and levies demanded by the state government through its Kogi State Internal Revenue Service.
A statement signed by Chairman of the Association, Gbenga Adebayo and Chairman, Head, Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga warned that the issue was likely to lead to a total shutdown of tele-communication service in the entire Kogi State, parts of Abuja and possible impact on service availability in some parts of Nassarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, and Niger states sharing borders with Kogi State.
“This situation arises as a number of critical telecommunications sites belonging to our members have been closed and sealed up by Kogi State government in an attempt to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collection.
“This action followed an ex-parte court order obtained by the Internal revenue Service in the state over unsubstantiated allegations that our members are in default of tax payments to Kogi state government (which is not the truth) and access to these critical telecom sites has been denied.
“According to them, as a result of this action by the state government, our members are unable to refuel power generators in these sites, a situation which has led to outage of over 70 sites, including hub sites across parts of Kogi State.
“We are very concerned that this indiscriminate action has the potential of further leading to a total telecommunications outage in Kogi State with neighboring states and parts of the Federal Capital Territory adversely impacted”.
The leadership of the Telecom Operators claimed that their members have settled all statutory levies and taxes due to the Kogi State government and have taken necessary steps to comply with local laws that govern business activities within Kogi State.
