Katsina State Government has lifted the ban on mobile telecommunications network services in the state.
The state government had requested a shutdown of telecom services in the state about three months ago in a bid to route the bandits ravaging the region.
The request made through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) was promptly implemented by telecom operators, Globacom, MTN, Airtel and 9Mobile.
Key local government areas such as Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Kurfi, Danmusa, Dutsin Ma, Kankara, Matazu, Musawa, Funtua, Faskari, Sabuwa, Dandume, Bakori, Danja and Malunfashi were promptly disconnected.
Special Adviser to Gov. Masari on security matters, Ibrahim Ahmed Katsina, told Katsina post that normalcy had been restored in virtually all the local government areas after the work of the security operatives.
“As I speak to you, network has been restored in some local government areas,” he said.
There has been an outcry of telecom shutdown in many parts of the North, with many people criticising the action as pointless and ineffective, especially as bandits continued to carry out raids.
Some critics argued that the shutdown gave the bandits more leeway to perpetrate their atrocities as their victims had no way of calling for help.
There were reports that some bandits even resorted to the use of walkie-talkies to communicate among themselves in the forests.
Telecom shutdown still persists in some parts of the the north.
