THE incessant closure of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the country by the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has drawn the ire of the Upper Legislative chamber, describing the exercise disturbing. The Senate had at a recent public hearing chided the agency for arbitrarily sealing base stations, which it has found to be contributory to the poor quality of telecommunications services in the country. The Senate is miffed over the refusal of the NESREA to unseal the 52 base stations which officials of the agency sealed in recent months in spite of the intervention of the lawmakers. The Senate Committee on Communications expressed worry over the inability of the Minister of Environment, and her Communications Technology counterpart to resolve the matter of sealing of base stations by NESREA within two weeks as promised during the public hearing to forestall the impact of abrupt closure of live base stations given its security and other implications. A staff attached to the Senate Committee on Communications said on Monday that the committee’s latest angst was precipitated by a media report credited to NESREA, that it has only sealed 22 base stations, against 52 submitted to it by the Nigerian Communications Commission, an act the Committee said was a ploy to discredit its work. The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, had during the meeting, categorically sought from NESREA if it has unsealed 52 Base stations allegedly sealed by its officials, to which the representative of NESREA, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, who is the Director of Inspection and Enforcement under oath replied thus: “No Sir. Because most of them contravened the laws and we have about 39 of them in the courts, they are already in the courts, sir”. Her response was said to have drew flaks from a member of the Committee, Senator Ayogu Eze, who moved for a scheduling of an urgent session to resolve the matter between the NCC and NESREA because of the implication of the actions of NESREA that is now a major source of worry in the industry. “Your answer is not satisfactory. I don’t know the law that allows you to physically go and lock up a base station, or switch off a base station or lock it down. I think that quite a number of organisations are behaving from the throwback of the military era, and secondly, in the light of the report of the World Health Organisations, what is the basis of your actions”, he queried the NESREA official. He said: “What we are saying today is very fundamental because there has been a lot of arbitrary exercise of power, not just by NESREA but by lots of agencies in Nigeria and yet these same people, who behave in this manner, are the first to accuse the National Assembly and the politicians, and yet the little authority that you give to them, they get very tyrannical and apply power arbitrarily”. The Director of Telecom and Postal Services in the Ministry of Communications Technology, Mr. John Ayodele, who represented the minister, then urged the Senate Committee to give a chance to the Minister of Environment, and her counterpart in the Communications Technology, as they had already scheduled a meeting within a week of the public hearing to resolve all the issues related to indiscriminate closure of base stations by NESREA. “One of the recommendations for the meeting is that all base stations constructed before the advent of NESREA Act, will remain as they are as they were not built under that law and there will be no more powers to close base stations because the law says they will first go to court”, he said. The Committee is now said to be considering holding another public hearing to know why the two ministries have failed to resolve the matter while the controversy has continued to rage with the latest statement from NESREA which appears targeted at the Committee. Efforts to reach the Chief Press Secretary of NESREA, Sule Oyofo proved abortive as his telephone number was said not to be available as at press time. . But the Director of Public Affairs at NCC told The Guardian that there was no substantive information yet, but that the two agencies involved in the face off are still working to resolve issues. A senior official at the Ministry of Communications Technology also confirmed to The Guardian that the matter between the two ministries of Environment and Communications Technology on BTS closure would soon be resolved It would be recalled that at the first meeting of the two ministers, it was agreed that all base stations that met with NCC requirements of 5-meter setback be unsealed, rather, the NESREA insisted that the operators pay the fines before they are unsealed.
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