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22-Jan-2003
POOR TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES IN KANO
by
Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa B. Sc (HONS) M. Sc Zoology (Applied Entomology)
Director Research, Institute for Contemporary Research (ICR) Kano and Chair KanoOnline.com [1]
Kano, Nigeria
(majekarofi@yahoo.com
)
http://www.kanoonline.com/ibrahimado/
First of all on a positive note one must commend the present federal administration for licensing GSM operators. At least it is a welcome relief for the common man who could not secure a line from NITEL. It is on the record that one of the communication ministers during the discredited era of military dictatorship was reported to have said that telephone is not for the common man. The common man now with less than N20000 can get a line. This is indeed one of the dividends of democracy. Prior to this civilian dispensation Nigeria had only 500000 of telephone lines (landlines) and 26,700 mobile cellular (1997 estimate) perhaps as a sign of optimism it has been reported that: “Less than one of year of operations MTN one of the two private Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) operators has connected over 500,000 subscribers to its network” (The Guardian July 23, 2002 p. 55).
It is our duty to consolidate this gain by bringing the attention of the regulatory authority to any malpractice by the communication services operators therefore this forum is indeed welcome and it is in the true spirit of democracy. Fulfilling this social responsibility is a difficult task because of the lack of confidence in our institutions. Many times people lodge their complaints to the authorities and nothing materializes. But we must be optimistic and hope as we grow older in our democracy things will change. It is in this spirit that I make this little contribution.
TELEPHONE SERVICES
Kano like any commercial center needs telephone services and as a poor domain its economy is dominated by small businesses and for all these years until the arrival of GSM, NITEL held the small business people to ransom:
What you need to do is to visit any of the NITEL offices and see the number of people waiting for the technicians to repair their faults. And the worst part of it is that if you have any problem you must be there early in the morning before 8:00 AM or you miss them. If you are so unlucky to have any fault relating to the cabinet, then you may miss several days of your valuable time pursuing the ‘cabinet man’.
For several years, people thought they will have relief with the computerization of the billing system but it never materialized. Even if you are regular in settling your bills you will never escape the discourtesy of NITEL, your line could still be “TOS-ed” at any given time. It is not their business that you will lose valuable business calls and spend several hours of valuable time “reconciling your bill or ledge” at the NITEL office. Nobody seems to care about this predicament in this jet age and its cost on our impoverished economy. I just hope the consumer bureau can rescue the small businessmen of Kano . I have also called the attention of the state government to this issue in earlier publications. I sincerely hope one day they will take up the issue by assigning an officer of the ministry of commerce and industry to tackle the problems of NITEL consumers because it is crucial to our pitiable economy.
It is common knowledge that telephone tariffs of Nigeria are among the highest in the world. Why despite our cheap labor? They always give the excuse that energy and other costs are high. Many competent economists have written on this issue.
I agree with those who are calling for the licensing of more operators in Nigeria . After all the proprietor of Econnet started modestly in Zimbabwe and today his company has become a multi-national with Nigeria as his biggest market. We are even told that he raised most of his capital from the Nigerian capital market. Therefore we have no excuse of not licensing smaller companies or any others. Without this we may slide into monopolism with few GSM operators holding us to ransom. No democracy can flourish if monopolists are allowed to control an important segment of the economy.
It is common knowledge that connectivity between NITEL and the GSM operators is still not smooth and consumers spend valuable time trying to connect. Please we are paying enough we need better services. We should see some positive action from the commission and not only empty ultimatum.
INTERNET SERVICES
In the capitalist monopolist spirit few Internet Service Providers have been licensed in this country because among many other reasons outrageous fees are charged. Is this in the best interest of a country that hopes to progress in this age?
Many schools including primary schools in some developing countries have Internet access. But in Nigeria even the university dons have no such access. This is a very important issue that we ignore at our own peril. Bayero University Kano has no five reputable scholarly journals despite its almost forty years of existence. How can we anticipate progress with such an intellectually barren ivory tower? A philanthropist offered free subscription to about 3,000 online journals to all academic institutions in Nigeria but is this accessible to staff and students of that university? I learnt some few days ago that the very efficient private Internet café of the institution has received quit notice because of some bureaucratic wrangling. In a normal society the university will provide easy access to staff and students since they produce no journals or books to satisfy their teeming intellectually malnourished public. We cannot entirely blame the university because NITEL is a major culprit. Nigeria is one of the few the countries if not the only one where there is no special discount rate for Internet subscribers because the national carrier is not willing to provide such service. In the interest of education of which Internet is an important tool and it is also one of the themes of this forum the communication commission should address this issue urgently.
I would like to use this opportunity to plead with the commission to review its guidelines for Internet service providers so as to allow more to join the business in the interest of our development.
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[1] Being a presentation to consumers’ forum organized by National Communication Commission in Kano on Thursday 9 January 2003 , this writer attended the forum and attempted to make this presentation at the occasion but was not given the opportunity. He is indeed grateful to www.gamji.com for providing the opportunity for him to bring these observations to the public domain.
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