Nigeria: The New Oligarchies

14 October 2003
opinion

Lagos — It was just a few days ago when the users of GSM held their strike. Friday, September 19th was to be the day when every Nigerian GSM subscriber of whatever creed was meant to switch off his phone and neither make nor receive calls . Those who adjudged the exercise to be unsuccessful completely missed the point. . Econet and MTN do not retail their own cards on a daily basis, making it virtually impossible to count their losses immediately. In any case, the initiators of the 'strike' action have made an indelible socio-political point and the GSM operators would choose to ignore only at their own peril..

The Obasanjo privatization program first tested the waters at the telecom sector with the introduction of the GSM technology via the two operators and while the technology was well received, in a country in dire need of the service, the costs were and still are not embraced in quite the same way. Still, the relative degree of satisfaction paved the way for the privatization of other sectors. the ports were to have followed, then NEPA, then the down stream part of the petroleum sector.

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