ALTON warns of imminent telecom network blackout in FCT, 9 states
The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has warned Kogi State government and nine other states including the Federal Capital Territory of an imminent telecommunications blackout over disputes arising from unusual taxes and levies demanded by the Kogi State Government.
According to the Chairman of ALTON, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, during an interaction with journalists in Lagos, yesterday, the taxes by Kogi through its Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, Kogi State Environmental Protection Board, championed by the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KIRS) is over N1 billion.
He stressed that a total communications blackout should be expected in the entire Kogi State, parts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory and possible impact on service availability in some parts of the states bordering Kogi. The states that will be affected are Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Niger.
He stressed that about 160 critical telecommunications sites belonging to ALTON 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 KIRS over unsubstantiated allegations that our members are in default of tax payments to the state government (which is not the truth) and access to these critical telecom sites has been denied.
“As a result of these actions by the state government, our members are unable to refuel power generators in these sites, a situation which has led to outage of many sites including hub sites across parts of Kogi State.”
He further stated that, “our 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.”
Some of the levies are; annual Right of Way (ROW) renewal, social services contribution, employee economic development levy, mast site premises renewal and fire service yearly renewal.
He noted that the outage currently being experienced is already affecting the ability of ALTON members to provide uninterrupted service to commercial banks, Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other critical agencies of government.