Femi Kuti: Why I Pulled Out Of 2012 Fuel Protest Against Jonathan; Reveals Why He Turned Down Osinbajo’s Invitation To APC |The Source

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September 5, 2020

By Adesina Soyooye

Afrobeat Music star, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti, has revealed that he pulled out of the 2012 fuel price protest against the Goodluck Jonathan Government when he found out it was politically motivated. He said he got a backlash for pulling out, but that he stood his ground.

Femi revealed this in a statenent following the uproar that has greeted the hike in fuel price by the Muhammadu Buhari Government early this week.

In 2012, an adhoc association which called itself, Occupy Nigeria, had occupied, for days, the Ojota square Lagos, in protest of the fuel hike then. In hundreds, they were entertained, everyday, by musicians, and fed to the hilt.

The Government reversed, meeting them half way.

In the statement, Femi said he was invited to join the protest against the Jonathan Government. He said he did, but pulled out as soon as he realised it was politically motivated.

He also revealed that Vice President Prof, Femi Osinbajo called and, invited him to join the APC, but that he turned him down. Explaining why, Femi said he would never be part of any political party that does not have the interest of the masses at heart.

Femi: ” I want to state for clarity and posterity my role in the Ojota pretest. I was invited for what I, and many, believed was a genuine cause regarding the cost of fuel. As soon as I found out it was politically motivated, I pulled out. I got a lot od backlash at the time, but I stood my ground.

“For the record, I have NEVER, and will NEVER affiliate myself with any political party that I don’t feel has the genuine interest of the people of Nigeria at heart.

“Even when the VP approached me to join APC, I blatantly refused, as I also refused to join the PDP or any political party.”

Femi’s father, Fela was jailed, for five years, by Buhari’s Military Government.

Early this week, the Nigerian Government hiked the price of fuel from N148 to N151 per litre. It is now being sold for N162 per litre. The Government says it can do nothing about it, just as Marketers warned it could, and would keep rising.

The increase has been greeted with strong condemnations from several quarters. It came the same time as the hike in electricity tariff.

Given the financial crunch on Nigerians and the hunger in the land, worsened by the outbreak of COVID-19, many describe the hikes as insensitive.

Labour Unions are gearing for a nationwide protest. On Friday in Osun State, many people took to the streets to protect the hikes.

Messi Bows To Pressure, Rescinds Decision To Quit Barcelona |The Source

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Akinwale Kasali

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September 5, 2020

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By Akinwale Kasali

Barcelona Football Club of Spain and Argentine National Team maestro, Messi, has bowed to pressure from the Catalan Giants and to avoid FIFA Sanction, as he has agreed to return to his Current Club.

Messi has quashed his intention of signing for Barclays English Premier League Clubside, Manchester City Football.

In the past few weeks, there has been intense pressure on the six-time World Footballer of The Year to jump ship and reunite with his former Coach, now at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola.

But he has bowed to pressure to remain, moreso, as the English Clubside was not ready to part with a record breaking and whopping sum of €700 Million for the 33 year-old superstar.

Buhari Is Best President Of Nigeria, Ever – Arthur Eze |The Source

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The Source

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September 5, 2020

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By Charles Igbo

Billionaire businessman, Chief Arthur Eze, says Muhammadu Buhari Is the best President Nigeria has ever had.

The Anambra State -born businessman was responding to remarks made by Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Productivity, on the Anambra State Traditional Rulers who were suspended by Governor Willie Obiano for travelling out of the state without the knowledge of the State Government.

They were suspended for an initial period of one year.

The Traditional Rulers were sponsored to Abuja by Eze, who also booked the appointments for them to visit President Muhammadu Buhari.

Eze said the trip was to say thank you to Mr President for his (President’s) good works in the South East Zones.

Even though they ended up not seeing the President, and were, instead, received in audience by Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the trip caused an uproar, especially, as a video which went spiral on Whatsaap showed the Traditional Rulers sharing money in Arthur Eze’s house.

Chief Eze, whose brother, the Traditional Ruler of his community was, ironically, was not on the trip, had come under strong criticisms by many people from the South-east zone, including Ngige, for the role he played in the Abuja trip. The questions were: What did he stand to gain? If the trip was to thank Buhari, why would be less it? Where was the Chairman of the Council not aware of the trip? Why was the Governor not aware? And why he not include his brother in the trip?

The State Government saw the trip as a disrespect for constitutional authority capable of causing a breach of the peace. It called it a mischief.

Ngige had asked the Governor to go beyond the one year suspension placed on the Traditional Rulers, and banish them from their communities so as to stop them from disrupting the peace in the affected Communities. “When you suspend somebody from office, you bar the person from the office environment”, Ngige, whose Traditional Ruler was one of those suspended.

He, also, canvassed that a punishment be meted out on Exe for sabotage against the state.

Irked, Eze dismissed Ngige’s submissions as the ranting of an ant, boasting that he had sponsored three African Presidents to office, one of whom gave him an oil well. He also boasted that he had giving a Governorship candidate in Nigeria, the sum of N10bn Naira. Ngige, he therefore, said is a little fry to him.

He dismissed Ngige’s call for the banishment of the Traditional Rulers as nonsense, and laughed at the thought of the Anambra State Government punishing him for sabotage.

Stung by Eze’s choice of words, Ngige said that Eze was his friend of many years who he housed and fed when he, Eze, was struggling to make ends meet as a trader selling tee-shirts.

Perhaps, embarrassed by Ngige’s disclosure, Eze went for the juggler.

In a statement by his Media Directorate, the businessman described Ngige as “an ant in human flesh,” saying he would have ignored the Minister’s outburst, but for the fact that he was serving in the best Government Nigeria has ever had, Ngige having become an accidental Minister.

Chief Eze:”We would have treated his ranting as the ranting of an ant who, by all social and political equation is an inconsequential product of history.

“We are, however, tempted to add a voice in view of his undeserved portfolio as a Minister in a Government that has been acclaimed as the best in Nigeria’s history under the able leadership of our beloved President Muhammadu Buhari.

On Ngige’s advice to the Governor to banish the Traditional Rulers, Chief Exe said: “One wonders how a Minister and a former Governor can wake up from slumber overnight and start calling on a state Governor to banish traditional rulers whose only offence is that they took a trip to Abuja to commend his boss, the President, for the magnificent jobs he is doing for the people of their zone.”

Eze, also, accused Ngige of not taking time to understand the political colouration given the trip by the state government.

Many of the Traditional Rulers beginning with Ngige’s, who he insists was imposed on the community by former Governor Peter Obi, and Obiano, have since apologised to the Governor.

However, many people expect the President to call to order his Minister and Eze, who Ngige labelled a fair weather friend, and dismissed as “Any Government In Power.”

Eze, for years, has been close to every Head of State/ President, from as far back as General Sani Abacha.

2023: Atiku’s Business Empire Under Serious Attacks |The Source

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Bayo Bernard

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September 4, 2020

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By Tosin Olatokunbo

Intels, the flagship business of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been hit again, three years after the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA stopped the near monopoly enjoyed by the firm in the oil and gas sector.

Two days ago the apex maritime regulator terminated a boat operation contract being handled by Intels Nigeria Limited, INL.

The multi-billion naira oil servicing company, is jointly owned by Atiku with an Italian business man, Gabriele Volpi and has enjoyed government patronage for years, until Buhari came into office in 2015 and things began to go bad for the firm.

In a marine notice dated September 1, the Lagos Pilotage District, LPD of the NPA said its boat service contract with Intels has been cancelled.

The maritime Regulator after terminating the contract directs that “Every Service Boat movement must be reported and booked at the office of the Harbour Master of the District, where Pilotage Chits and Master Declaration Forms will be issued and returned after every movement.”

“Every enquiry on Service Boat movement should be directed to the office of the Port Manager of the Ports/Harbour Master, Pilotage District.”

Atiku Abubakar has been having it rough with the federal government since the administration came on board in 2015.

Apart from constant attacks from top government officials, business interests of the former number two man have also not escaped the preying eyes of the administration, a situation many blame on Atiku’s political ambition.

The ex-vice president contested the presidency with Buhari in 2015 and lost.The Turaki Adamawa, as Atiku is well known, is still believe to be nursing the ambition to hold the country’s highest office in 2023, when the tenure of the incumbent expires.

This may have set him against powerful forces in Buhari’s government, particularly those eyeing the presidency, and other politicians working for aspiring presidential candidates, who are intimidated by Atiku’s reach and credentials.

For instance, is Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, an influential figure in the All Progressive Congress, APC controlled feedral government, who has debunked his rumoured interest in the presidency.

El-rufai is instrumental to the emergence of Hadiza Bala Usman as Managing Director of NPA, and is believed to be working for Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi to clinch the top job in 2023, when Buhari is expected to leave office.

But the Agency has refuted claims that its actions are political, even when close watchers of events believe otherwise.

“By attacking Atiku’s interest, they are warning him to drop his ambition to become president. The hand writing on the wall is clear enough. The attackers are targeting his business interests, to reduce his war chest to contest any future election,” an analyst told the magazine on Friday.

He said the former vice president is not unaware of what “his traducers are trying to do, but he’s an experienced politician who will decide what to do at the appropriate time.”

In 2017, the federal government withdrew the monopolistic contract awarded to Intels to handle oil and gas cargoes in the country.

The same year, the Attorney General of the federation and Minster of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in a letter to Bala-Usman, directed her to terminate the boats pilotage monitoring and supervision agreement that the agency had with Intels.

The minster has argued that the contract was illegal and in contravention of the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA policy of government, thus terminating the 17 year contract enjoyed by Intels.

NPA has gone ahead to terminate other contracts with Intels after then.

Meanwhile, the former vice president has criticised the recent increased in electricity tariff by the federal government, insisting that the action will bring untold hardship to Nigerians.

“I reject the increased electricity tariffs. Coming out of the lockdown, Nigerians need a stimulus, not an impetuous disregard for the challenges they face. Many Nigerians have not earned an income for months, due to no fault of theirs. This increase is ill-timed and ill-advised, Mr Abubakar posted,” Atiku said.

October 10 Poll: Gov Akeredolu Flags Off Campaign |The Source

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Ayodele Oni

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September 4, 2020

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By Ayodele Oni, Akure

All is set for the flag-off rally for the re-election of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN, and his running mate, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Saturday.

Chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), including the vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo and members of the campaign committee, are expected at the event.

A statement signed by spokesman of campaign committee, Richard Olabode, explained that the event, which holds at the Akure township stadium will be Covid-19 compliant.

Akeredolu, the incumbent Governor, emerged candidate of the party at its primary held last month after defeating other aspirants, including Chief Olusola Oke, SAN, and Mr Isaac Kekemeke.

Aspirants that lost in the primary, have, however, thrown their support at him, and collapsed their structures to back the flag bearer after his visits to solicit their backing.

The running mate, Aiyedatiwa, is from the southern senatorial district of the state.

FG releases List Of Approved Airlines For international Flights; Bars Air France, Lufthansa |The Source

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Uche Mbah

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September 4, 2020

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By Uche Mbah

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has released a list of airlines approved for the resumption of international flights on September 5. The list is for the two major air hubs in Nigeria – the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Recall that the Federal government shifted the earlier resumption date for the airlines to Saturday, September 5, to meet up with the logistics of the reopening.

The list of the airlines approved include British Airways, Delta Airlines, Emirates, Qatar, Kenya Airways, Middle East Airline, Egypt Air, Emirate, Ethiopian Airline, WA, and Turkish Airline. Virgin Atlantic, Air Peace, Asky, Africa Ward Ghana, Air Cote d’Ivoire.

Lufthansa, KLM, AirFrance were denied approval, together with Etihad, RwandAir, Air Namibia, Air Almaro, Angola and South African airways.

Based on the new approval, Lagos airport can welcome British Airways, Delta Airlines, Emirates Qatar, Kenya Airways, which are already scheduled to fly in passengers on the opening day. Ethiopian Air, BA, Egypt Air, Middle East, Middle East and Turkish Airline will fly into Abuja.

On Sunday, Delta, Air Senegal, Virgin Atlantic, Ethiopian, AWA and Turkish will fly into Lagos while Abuja airport will receive BA, Egypt Air, Ethiopian, Emirate, and AWA.

On Monday, Turkish, Air Senegal, Virgin Atlantic, Qatar, AWA, Kenya Airways, and British Airways will fly into Lagos. For Abuja on Mondays are BA, Emirates, Ethiopia, and AWA.

These airlines have complied with the Foreign Operator Carrier Operator Permit which is the legal requirement for every airline operating in Nigeria, the COVID-19 guideline by the PTF and other guidelines and restrictions from other countries.

All intending travelers to Nigeria are expected to test negative to Covid-19 by PCR in the country of departure before four days of departure preferably, 72hrs before boarding. In certain Countries, the PCR would only be accepted from identified laboratories. Those who do not comply with this will not be allowed entry, and those who entered will be quarantined for 14 days. Airlines will also be fined $3500 per passenger if they fail to comply with the preboarding requirement, Sirika said. Those who show COVID 19 symptoms will undergo institutional quarantine.

“All intending passengers are required to register on an online Nigeria International Travel payment portal at http//:nitp.ncdc.gov.ng and also pay for a second repeat test to be done in Nigeria.”

“Once payment is completed passengers will receive an email for the selected laboratory of their choice providing them with the laboratory link to register for the PCR test on the 7th day of their arrival. Passengers would be allowed to choose a sample collection center and appointment time and the date for sample collection.”

“A list of private laboratory provided and the sample collection centers will be available on the NCDC website adding that passengers will also fill the online self-declaration form also located the same payment platform and submit online or submit for presentation on arrival.”

“They must ensure that the information, contact details provided on the platform are correct and verifiable and can be reached when needed. Passengers must inform port health officials on the arrival of any changes in their health, state completion of the health self-declaration in other words take responsibilities.”

“Prior to boarding passengers must upload their COVID-19 negative test result on the payment portal and will have a copy for presentation at the airport. Prior to boarding all travelers will undergo screening for fever and would be questioned for COVID-19 symptoms.

“Passengers with COVID-19 symptoms will not be allowed to board the flight and airlines must only board passengers with COVID-19 test result done within the stipulated 4 days. Airlines that board passengers without the negative COVID-19 PCR test will be sanctioned as follows:

“Non-Nigerians will be refused entry and return to the country of origin at the cost of the airlines. So airlines would be made to return the people back to where they boarded from and the cost will be borne by the airline.”

The minister said passengers who fail to submit themselves or declare their PCR test will be placed on a watch list for six months and denied foreign travel. He assured that test result will be available within 24 days.

Oodua Group Flays Price Hike, Calls For Reversal |The Source

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Ayodele Oni

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September 4, 2020

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By Ayodele Oni, Akure

The Federal government has been urged to reverse the new pump price of Premium Motor Spirits, (PMS) otherwise known as petrol announced on Wednesday.

The Oodua Youth Coalition, (OYC), in a statement, described the hike in petroleum pump price and electricity tariff as insensitive and callous.

The statement, made available in Akure, signed by national President, Tayo Akintade, condemned the decision, describing it as another attempt to add to the burden of the already impoverished and marginalized Nigerians.

“While the Nation is still battling with the neck breaking and pocket unfriendly increase in the price of basic commodities and the effect of the novel pandemic, corona virus on people’s income, increasing the price of PMS and Electricity tariff is a further proof that the leadership is either unaware or uninterested in happenings in the country.

“Considering the importance of PMS and electricity to the running of the economy, the increase will further cause a hike in the cost of production for industries and subsequent effect in prices of commodities in the market.

“We call on the Federal Government to immediately reverse the price for the survival of the country or face total lockdown in the west.”

S/East 2023: Yoruba Didn’t ‘Belong’ Before Producing President In 1999 |The Source

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The Source

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September 3, 2020

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By Paul Uwadima

In 1999 the Yoruba people of South West Nigeria produced a democratically elected president in the person of President Olusegun
Obasanjo, even though the Yoruba at the time did not ‘belong.’

At the time, the party to belong to-if we are to believe late Isa Funtua who told Arise TV team led by Reuben Abati not long ago that if
the Igbo want to produce president in 2023 they must first ‘belong’-was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). If that is the true interpretation of Funtua’s ‘belonging’, it means that in 1999 the Yoruba did not ‘belong’ because instead of supporting the candidate of the PDP which enjoyed overwhelming national support, they pitched their tent with the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
If the PDP had at the time given its presidential ticket to a non-Yoruba such a candidate would have trashed the Yoruba backed candidate of the AD, Chief Olu Falae in the election just as Obasanjo
did!
The reason why Yoruba still produced a president despite its disdain for PDP and its presidential candidate then was because the PDP candidate was also a Yoruba, a man they love to hate, but who was accepted by the rest of the country.
The reason why this was possible is because those who determine who gets what had at the run up to the return to democratic governance in Nigeria in 1999 decided that the president of the country MUST be a Yoruba. This shadowy group that determines who gets what in Nigeria, majority of whom were Northern retired and serving military leaders wanted to assuage the anger of the Yoruba because of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election in which a Yoruba man and candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was poised to win.

The annulment of that election galvanized the Yoruba elite to mount unprecedented opposition to the Babangida led junta, to the extent that the Minna born General was forced to ‘step aside’ and in his place an Interim National Government headed by Chief Ernest Oshonekan was constituted.

The emergence of Shonekan, another Yoruba did not assuage the tribe, they insisted on the revalidation of the mandate of Chief MKO Abiola.

There was uncertainty over the future of the Interim National Government especially as it lacked popular support both nationally and in Yoruba land in particular. It was a perfect environment for a coup master like General Sani Abacha to take over governance by force. Which he did!

If the Yoruba thought that there would be rapprochement between the tribe and Abacha led junta they were wrong. All the entreaties t Abacha to revalidate Abiola’s mandate was rebuffed and to prove that he meant business he put in prison Abiola who unilaterally declared himself president of Nigeria.

Abacha did not only show unwillingness to enthrone Abiola as the democratically elected president, he began a thinly veiled campaign to transmute from a military head of state to a civilian president. It was in the midst of Abacha’s metamorphosis campaign that the maximum ruler suddenly died on June 8, 1998. And his place was taken by General Abdulsalami Abubakar as Head of State.

General Abubakar and the country were yet to take a position on the Abiola quagmire, when Abiola a month after the death of Abacha died in prison on July 7, 1998. His death opened a new chapter for the country’s political renewal.
Abdulsalami who read the mood of the nation so well did not delay in preparing ground for the return to democratic rule. The necessary law were passed and the political parties formed for a return to civilian

rule.
The PDP became the rallying point of most political leaders nationwide, while the Yoruba formed their own party the AD preparatory for the transition to civil rule. As a matter of fact the AD did not meet the criteria to be registered as a party, but it was registered anyways, because at the time there was a general consensus among what you can call in today’s parlance ‘the cabal’ dominated by Northerners who had concluded alongside the Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar that the president must come from the South West as the penance the country had to pay for the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election that a Yoruba man was poised to win.

The above model that the country used in producing a Yoruba president in 1999 should be applied in 2023 to ensure that the South East produces a president for Nigeria if truly this country believes in justice and fairness to all sections of it.

More than 50 years after the civil war, this is the time to show that this country is indeed one Nigeria, indivisible under God. Since the return of democracy in 1999 all the other zones of the country have produced presidents for the country with the exception of the Igbo people of the South East zone.

To make this project seamless, all the registered political parties in 2023, especially the big ones, should see it as a patriotic duty to zone their presidential tickets to the South East. This appeal is especially to the two dominant parties; APC and PDP. Interestingly, there are many eligible, credible and eminently qualified persons from the South East in all the registered political parties in the country.

*Uwadima, author and media practitioner writes from Abuja*

$22.7 Billion Loan Approved By NASS Yet To Be Tapped, Says DMO |The Source

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Uche Mbah

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September 3, 2020

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By Uche Mbah

The Debt Management Office says that the $22.76bn already approved as a loan by the National assembly is yet to be utilized. According to Patience Oniha, the DMO boss, they are still studying the conditions attached to the loan and, therefore, have not signed for the loan.

Recall that the National Assembly last March approved additional loan request from the presidency to the tune of $22.76bn

“We have not started drawing these loans because there are processes to be followed. All the agreements have not been signed and the utilization of these loans has conditions,” Oniha said.

“What was submitted in 2016 was a request for $30 billion concessional loans. But the lawmakers cherry-picked and approved. The balance was the $22.7billion which the Federal Government submitted to the National Assembly in 2019.

“These are concessional loans with the interest of about 3 percent and tenor of about 30 years. We need to let Nigerians know that the lenders will not give Nigeria $22.7 billion at once.

“These loans are disbursed according to milestones. That is the loans are released based on the projects they are meant for after the lenders’ consultants have done some evaluation. It does not mean that once the $22.7billion was approved, we will just be given.

“We sought approval for the $22.7billion loans from the National Assembly because the law says if you are borrowing on concessional terms, you go to the National assembly.

“The DMO Act and the Fiscal Responsibility Act do not allow the DMO to borrow without the approval of the Executive and the National Assembly

“For instance, if we are doing Eurobonds, the parties will not take you to the market without the legal backing of the relevant arms of government including the legislature.

“Every year, we draw the budget and you see new borrowing. This is because there is a deficit which means our revenues are short of expenditures.

“When we are talking about the growth in the debt stock, we forget the origin. Once you see a deficit in the budget, you have to look for funds to finance it.

“What is different now and makes it worse is that the revenue is lower. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of oil per barrel dropped to $16. Some oil-producing countries were even offering a 50 percent discount. With the pandemic, our budget deficit widened.

“What has COVID-19 pandemic done to us? If you asked in January and February this year, In 2020 Budget, we were going to borrow about N1.6 trillion to cope with the deficit for the 2020 Budget.

“But with COVID-19 pandemic it is now about N4.2 trillion because our revenue dropped by about 50 percent,” Oniha said.

According to her, Nigeria’s not the only country borrows and nobody was out to mortgage the future of the next generations.

“It is not only Nigeria that borrows. I am sure you know how indebted the United States is. The fact that some governments are run on borrowing does not mean that borrowing is wrong.

“Sometimes a government may have a surplus but it will borrow to keep its markets open. This is the case with Russia, the UK, Qatar, and Germany.

“We had oil price at N110 per barrel and we were producing at 1.8 million barrels per day during the administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But we were still borrowing because the budget had deficits, we still borrowed.

“Since we came out of the London-Paris Clubs’ loans, there are more controls around external borrowings. After the exit of London-Paris loans, we decided that we will take concessional loans. These loans are not used to finance budget but to fund capital projects.

“I know debt has moved from an economic subject to a political subject. I think it is one of the political tools to say this government has failed or has sold future generations. Some alleged that we are enslaving future generations.

“Successive governments have always been borrowing. The debt sticks out because the revenue is low. Our borrowings are cumulative and attributable to many governments. We are not out to sell future generations or mortgage future generations. Some loans have 3% interest with a tenor of about 30 years.

“We have also been paying back some loans. We should try to be analytical and understand economic dynamics which made some of these loans necessary.”

Nigeria Used 42.12% More Internet Since July 2019, Says NCC |The Source

By

Uche Mbah

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September 3, 2020

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By Uche Mbah

For the year ending July 2020, Nigerians has used 42.12 percent more internet than they did within the previous year, the National communications commission has said.

The use of the internet in a localized area is referred to as broadband penetration in technical terms.

Data from the NCC indicate that subscription to the internet hit 80.2 million within the year under review, which amounted to 42.2 percent, more than the 30% increase the previous year.

By August last year, the broadband penetration was 35.19 percent, which amounted to 67 million subscribers.

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that as of August last year, broadband penetration was 35.10 percent, with a total number of 67 million subscriptions.

The first quarter of this year was faced with the COVID 19 pandemic. There was a lockdown by the government, which made many people to work from home. Many were forced to rethink online entrepreneurship in the wake of economic hardship.

This was alleged to account for the upsurge in the broadband penetration. Which stood at stood at 31.48 percent two years ago, but it rose to 32.34 percent last year in January, and 33.08 percent. It rose to 33.22 percent by February 2019.

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo reportedly said the steady growth of broadband penetration in the past 20 months is due to the increase in the demand for broadband service.

Experts are of the opinion that the government may not have been doing enough in terms of providing the necessary infrastructure for the telecom industry. Most of the infrastructural developments are done by telecom firms and service providers, and this has impacted negatively on broadband penetration. Increased use of meeting applications like zoom by companies and individuals within the preferred period also helped to account for the rise in penetration.

High broadband tariff has become the major hindrance to the industry that is fast gaining ground as a gateway towards virtual globalization.