Nigerian farmers in the northeastern part where Boko Haram terrorists have continued to commit havoc on the region have asked wireless telecommunications operators to block SIM cards that haven’t been formally registered by their users, saying such sims aided the activities of the terror group.
They particularly accused the local unit of South Africa telecom firm MTN of being a major culprit in the unregistered sims saga.
The farmers believe that unregistered SIMs make it easier for Boko Haram to communicate, coordinate attacks and recruit youths without being detected by authorities.
“We will stage a protest against MTN and take necessary legal action if it fails to comply with this directive within 48 hours,” Mohammed Sani, the head of the region’s association of small-holder farmers, said on Monday.
MTN was fined $1 billion by the federal government last year for missing a deadline to disconnect about five million subscribers in a security crackdown.
MTN is Nigeria’s market leader with more than 50 million customers base according to latest data from the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC).
A spokesman for MTN’s local unit in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, couldn’t immediately comment when contacted by phone.
Boko Haram began a violent campaign in 2009 to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s most populous country of more than 180 million people. Farming communities in the northeast have been among the most vulnerable to the group’s bombings, kidnappings and hit-and-run attacks.
“Unproductive youths of the region could be properly harnessed into productive use through agriculture,” Sani said.
Boko Haram began a violent campaign in 2009 to impose its version of Islamic law on Africa’s most populous country of more than 180 million people. Farming communities in the northeast have been among the most vulnerable to the group’s bombings, kidnappings and hit-and-run attacks.
“Unproductive youths of the region could be properly harnessed into productive use through agriculture,” Sani said.
“No serious, commercial scale and employable farming activity can take place without the security of lives and property.”
MTN Nigeria’s customer numbers have been revised down from 60 million in the past six months as it refined the definition of what counts as a subscriber, the company said last week.
MTN Nigeria’s customer numbers have been revised down from 60 million in the past six months as it refined the definition of what counts as a subscriber, the company said last week.
The shares traded 0.4 percent higher at 122.97 rand at the close in Johannesburg on Monday, valuing the company at 232 billion rand
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