Telecommunication services have been shut down in 13 local government areas of Katsina State.
The affected LGAs are – Sabuwa, Faskari, Dandume, Batsari, Danmusa, Kankara, Jibia, Safana, Dutsin-Ma and Kurfi located on the fringe of the Ruggu forest where the bandits are hiding.
Others are – Funtua, Bakori and Malumfashi LGAs.
The areas were without network services throughout Thursday.
The development may not be unconnected with the ongoing military offensive against bandits and other criminals in the North-West.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) had a few days ago dismissed reports on plans to shut down telecommunication services in the state.
The NCC Director of Media, Abdu Labaran Malumfashi, who reacted to the reports in a statement, said the commission’s Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, had spoken to the state government on the matter.
He dismissed the reports as false.
Malumfashi said the purported letter which surfaced on social media was a cloned version of the one sent to Zamfara State where telecommunication services were shut down over the worsening security situation in the state.
The NCC had directed telcom operators to shut down their services in Zamfara State for two weeks starting September 3 to enable security agencies to carry out the necessary operations against bandits in the state.
Katsina State is a state in the northwestern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Katsina State was created in 1987, when it split from Kaduna State. Today, Katsina State borders Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano, and Jigawa States.
