The Association of
Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has decried the use of the police by government agents to illegally seal telecommunications Base Transceiver Stations (BTS).
This is contained in a statement signed by the Chairman of ALTON, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, which was obtained by The Tide on Friday in Lagos.
The statement said that the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act, CAP. C39, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 had clearly criminalised the illegal sealing of telecommunications base stations.
It said that the law had criminalised the destruction and damaging of infrastructure, including telecommunications infrastructure, of which the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had issued a number of public information in this regard.
“We are aware that in Section 6, the police is empowered to arrest anyone sealing off telecommunications base stations.
“It is a contradiction for the law to empower the Police to protect infrastructure and for the same Police to be used to illegally deny access to property they are enjoined to protect.
“Section 1 (1) (b) criminalises the obstruction of communications, hence denying access to sites using the police ultimately results in obstruction, a process which is to be prevented by the police.
“We, therefore, urge the IGP to kindly direct all Police Commands to strictly enforce taxation demands, pursuant to court orders only.
“Given the need to sensitise the populace on this unlawful act of sealing BTS, the NCC also published a Public Notice where the aforementioned Act was reiterated and the consequences of sealing a BTS was elaborated,’’ it quoted Adebayo as saying.
The statement said that telecommunications development in Nigeria was playing an integral role in the nation’s march towards a greater country
It added that telecommunication services had greatly improved the quality of life of Nigerians, as a people, from basic voice calls, to internet services and numerous value added offers by the operators.
According to the statement, in spite the above, operators still face a number of environmentally-related problems, in particular, on issues of interference with the smooth operations of telecommunications services.
It said that one of such interferences was the incidence of closure of operators’ BTS sites and other telecommunications infrastructure on the excuse of non-payment of arbitrarily-imposed taxes and levies.
The statement said that such taxes and levies imposed by States and Local Government authorities, in the name of Internally generated revenue was having adverse effects on the quality of services rendered by telecommunications operators.
It noted that the Taxes and Levies (Approved list for Collection) Law of 1998 stated in its Section 2 (1) that members of the Nigeria Police shall only be used to collect taxes in accordance with Tax laws.
It also provided that no person, including a tax authority, shall use road blocks to collect taxes.
“A reading of Section 2 (1) and (2) together can only lead to the conclusion that the police should only intervene in the collection of taxes pursuant to lawful order.
“We hereby request that the IGP kindly directs all Police Commands to strictly enforce taxation demands pursuant to court orders only.
“In the case of telecommunications companies, such orders should only be orders of the Federal High Court, since telecommunications is on the exclusive legislative list,’’ the statement quoted Adebayo as saying.