After two months of an outright blackout, the Kaduna State Government has announced the immediate restoration of all telecommunication services in some parts of the states where they were earlier suspended.
The announcement is coming after two months when the state government did order the shut down of telecommunication services in some parts of the state as a measure of combating the activities of banditry, kidnapping and other criminal acts carried out in the state.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the announcement was made known by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan while addressing press officials in the state. Aruwan said that the State Government had contacted relevant federal agencies to effect the immediate restoration of the services.
He in his statement, that in October 2021, security agencies had requested the shutdown of telecoms services as part of the measures to address the problem of banditry and related crimes.
The Commissioner said, “The security agencies have notified the government that telecom services can now be restored. The initial shutdown, along with other measures, had helped the security agencies to achieve some results.’’
Further in his remarks, he stated that it was rather unfortunate that the measures put in place had its negative toll on the activities of the citizenry of the state but nevertheless assured that there would be complete restoration of activities in the affected areas to ensure that normalcy is achieved by this announcement.
Aruwan appraised residents of the state for their sacrifices and support during the temporary shutdown and expressed regrets for inconveniences caused the affected areas.The Commissioner, however, said other measures, on security measures aimed at combating crimes in the affected areas, remained in force.
He said, “These include; prohibition of movement of motorcycle, the ban on weekly market, transportation of cattle and sales of cattle across the state.’’
Recalling that in September 30, 2021, the Kaduna State Government had joined three other states in the Northern part of Nigeria – Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina – to order telecommunications firms to suspend their services and becoming the fourth state to do so.
