Who Was Responsible For
Nigerians Inability To Speak To Jonathan On Live TV Chat?
While Nigerians are still
analyzing the two hours LIVE media chat of President Goodluck Jonathan on
Sunday on national television and radio, tongues are still wagging on why over
a hundred million telephone subscribers in Nigeria could not get through to the
president on phone.
Only two callers out of
over a 180 million Nigerians were able to speak to the president fuelling
speculation that there was a deliberate attempt to shortage Nigerians or
prevent them from having a one on one with their leader.
The program anchored by
veteran broadcaster Ohi Alegbe also had Miss Maupe Ogun of Sunrise Daily
(Channels Television) and another panelist as the main anchors.
Although the president
took pain to answer most of the questions thrown at him,it was obvious that the
main audience for which the live telecast was meant for were either
deliberately shut out by the organizers or there was a deliberate attempt in
some quarters by some telecom operators to sabotage the efforts.
This was the reason why
CKN Nigeria put on its investigating cap to get the root of the matter.
Initially there was
insinuation in some quarters that the current not too rosy relationship between
two government regulators of the telecom industry the Nigerian Communications
commission (NCC) and NESREA over the erection of masts and base stations was
responsible.
This was fuelled by the
bulk passing game that have existed between the two agencies on who has the
actual right to regulate the use of mast by telecom operators in the
country..It was alleged that NESREA has taken it upon itself but dismantle
telecom masts for what it called ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION.
When CKN Nigeria spoke
with the Director, Public Affairs of NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo,who debunked the
involvement of NCC in the hiccups noticed (if any) during the Presidential
chat..According to him, the telephone lines used for the chat were Land lines
and not GSM numbers.Therefore; the lines had nothing to do with masts or base stations.
He further said such lines were fiber optics cabled lines which needs no direct
base stations.
To him, the problem may be
as a result of congestion due to the number of Nigerians who may be calling at
the same time to speak to the president.
Our further investigation
showed some shoddy unprofessional job on the part of the presidency and
organizers of the chat.
It is on record that this
was the third media chat to be held by president Goodluck Jonathan since he
became the president of Nigeria.
Our check showed at those
three occasions, the available two lines did not function, raising the question
why Nigerians should be provided with none functioning lines.
What will it also cost the
Presidency to liaise with GSM operators to provide atleast ten dedicated lines
with functional PABX through which incoming calls could be routed.
Were the organizers trying
to shield the president from embarrassing questions from the people? Were they
trying to keep their jobs or what?
If they were not ready to
make it an interactive chat, why were they deceiving Nigerians with such HUGE
JOKE taking too far.
Our attempt to speak with
the Presidential Spokesman Dr Reuben Abati on this was unsuccessful..Calls and
text messages sent to his phone were un-replied.
It is our candid opinion
that the presidency should be forth right with its dealings with Nigerians.
Over one hundred and eighty millions Nigerians should not be taken for a ride.
We have the right to ask our leaders questions.
If the organizers of the
presidential debate are not interested in phone calls, they should spare us the
agonies of trying lines that were programmed to fail.
The more we probed into
this, the more questions that were raised.
A Presidential chat is not
a tea party for all. If the organizers were not interested in phone in calls,
the chat can be recorded and rebroadcast to Nigerians.
The insinuation making the
rounds therefore that the feud between NCC, NESREA and GSM companies was
responsible for the failure of the phones to function is therefore UNTRUE
This
deliberate 419 should stop henceforth…CKN