The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has planned to shut down telecommunication network services due to lingering insecurity.
El-Rufai disclosed this in a meeting with some selected pressmen in the state on Tuesday.
El-Rufai added that the military and other security agencies have advised the state government to shut down telecommunication services in certain local governments.
He, however, stated that the government is only waiting for the go-ahead from the military to shut down the mobile networks in the identified areas.
The governor said that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the directive, following the movement of bandits from neighbouring Zamfara and Katsina states.
“We have been advised by the Military and other security agencies to shut down telecommunication services in certain LGAs but we are waiting for the security agencies to tell us which specific areas and when.”
“But I want the people of Kaduna State to know that if they give us the go-ahead tomorrow [Wednesday], we will shut down tomorrow.”
“There is no doubt that bandits and other criminals rely on telecommunication to communicate with their informants as well as with relatives of kidnapped victims so as to demand ransom,” he said.
With the development, Kaduna will become the fourth state in Nigeria to take such action after Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina in order to curb the activities of bandits, kidnappers, terrorists, and other criminals in the area.