Few days after the National Communications Commission (NCC) denied plan to shut down telecommunication services in Katsina State, Northwest Nigeria, all the four major telecoms have shut down services in 13 of the State’s 34 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The shut down is a s a result of the operations by the Armed Forces of Nigeria against terrorists and bandits in the Northwest region of the country.
The affected LGAs are Sabuwa, Faskari, Dandume, Batsari, Danmusa, Kankara, Jibia, Safana, Dutsin-Ma and Kurfi that are on the fringes of the Ruggu forest where most of the bandits are hiding.
The other three include Funtua, Bakori and Malumfashi.
NCC had denied the story that the Commission had ordered telecom service providers to shut down their sites in Katsina.
In a statement, Director General (Media), Abdu Labaran Malumfashi, had said the Executive Vice Chaiman/CEO of NCC, Professor Umar D. Danbatta, had spoken to the the State government on the matter where he said the story was false.
The NCC VC/CEO added that the purported letter trending in the social media was a cloned version of the one sent to Zamfara State, where there is a total shutdown of telecom sites.
NCC had issued a directive to telecom operators to shut down their services in the neighbouring Zamfara State as from September 3, to enable security agencies carry out required operations in relation to the pervasive security challenges.