The President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG),  Mr Bayo Banjo, said that the Federal Government should demonstrate the political will to ensure telecommunications infrastructure were protected from vandalism.

Banjo told  newsmen in Lagos that government at all levels should have the willingness to apply the law accordingly for the protection of telecoms infrastructure.

He said that if there was no desire to implement and enforce the laws put in place, their good intention would be lost. Banjo said that it would not make any difference if the telecoms infrastructure were declared as critical and government security agents were not ready to protect them. “Outside Lagos, people go to cell sites and some touts are waiting there; in some areas like Ondo, they pay the touts before they can even go there,’’ the NIG president said.

He said that in some states, the touts at the base stations kidnap and even kill the telecoms personnel that went to service the infrastructure.

According to him, without a law to declare telecoms infrastructure as critical infrastructure, it is still a crime for people to tamper with other peoples’ properties. ‘’Nobody is following policy, nobody is following law; it is good to have the law on our statute book, but who is going to enforce it? “I think the government should have the willing commitment,’’ he said.

It would be recalled that calls have been made on the Federal Government to urgently declare telecoms facilities as national critical infrastructure following the closure of some telecoms sites due to vandalism. Some stakeholders, who made the call blamed the poor state of telecoms services across networks on the closure of some of the sites. The Federal Government had in 2012, said it was working through the Nigerian Communications Commission and the private telecommunications operators to develop an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure protect