September 3rd, 2021, will not be the first time the Nigerian government has tried to use a telecommunications shutdown to tackle insurgency.
The timeline of events from the 2013 telecoms shutdown in three North-Eastern states, Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe, shows that cutting off communication does not deter bandit efforts; in fact, it makes them more adamant in their pursuit of terror. Eight years later, terror and violence continue to spread across Northern Nigeria, with security deteriorating in North-East Nigeria due to the Boko Haram insurgency and North-Western Nigeria now battling banditry. This resulted in a network shutdown in Northern Nigeria in 2021, affecting over five states in the country’s northwestern part.
Communication has always played a vital role in the functionality of security efforts, evidence supports the use of communication to bolster security in the form of intel and tracking, so what could be the logic behind the network shutdown in North-Western Nigeria and why does the Nigerian military believe that a shutdown will be effective? A time where a vast majority of the population is highly reliant on ICTs and when it is well known that there are ways bandits circumvent telecommunication shutdowns with the use of satellite phones…..
To read more, check full article on Daily Trust Newspaper.