Nworah, who spent six years working in a major telecom company, agrees that the sector faces numerous challenges, including: Inability to invest in equipment and infrastructure due to high naira-to-dollar rates and stagnant data and voice call rates, epileptic power supply, forcing telcos to rely on generators with unbearable diesel and petrol costs, staffing issues, including brain drain and harassment by local communities and governments, excessive taxes and levies from local, state, and federal governments, trapped funds for foreign investors as they are unable to repatriate funds due to naira depreciation.
Nworah emphasizes the need for urgent action, stating, “A state of emergency should be declared in the sector. Nigeria is happening to the telecom sector. We should not allow the sector to collapse.”
