On Thursday, August 1, 2024, Percy Ani attempted to access his work documents but it took longer than usual.
“I didn’t suspect anything until my X account eventually opened and saw I was not the only one affected,” she said.
Ani said she slept all through, losing a lot of money.
“Telecoms companies failed me,” she said. “I can’t even begin to explain how much I have lost,” Ani told BusinessDay on Tuesday.
On August 1, 2024, most Nigerians woke up to a youth-led protest over economic hardship and a widespread network downtime that negatively impacted internet speed. The protest, scheduled to last 10 days, targets President Bola Tinubu’s policies which have led to record-high inflation (34.19 percent in June 2024) and reduced purchasing power.
The low internet connectivity left many remote workers and those who had to work from home due to the protest struggling to meet deadlines or attend virtual meetings.
Internet dependence in Nigeria has grown considerably since COVID-19.
Read also: Telecom subscribers face network downtime
According to data from the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), monthly internet usage grew from 125,149.86 terabytes (TB) as of December 2019 to 753,388.77 TB as of March 2024.
“The increase in data usage is directly linked to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted normal activities and most functions had to be held virtually, including schools, corporate meetings, etc,” the commission said in 2020.
Mobile internet subscriptions have grown from 135.74 million in March 2020 to 163.89 million in March 2024.
“Thursday was the first time I used 20 minutes to upload a story on a website,” said Victoria Adewolu, an online journalist.
“The highest speed I got from Thursday until yesterday (Monday) was 700Kbps, which was frustrating. I couldn’t achieve much,” lamented Oladayo Adenubi, a financial analyst. He noted that his internet speed was back to normal on Tuesday.
“The network kept removing me from classes,” said Adewunmi Onofomi, a virtual teacher. “My students are kids, and that affected their attention. It was almost like I had no classes through Thursday and Friday.”
She noted that she has a backlog of classes to catch up on this week.
Adele Adarabioyo, who works for an international organisation remotely, said he could not meet his job deadlines during the five-day glitch.
“I was supposed to hand in four reports during this period, but I only succeeded in turning in one,” he said.
Concerns and complaints over these network issues flooded social media on Thursday and Friday. “Is it just me? My network isn’t going,” Chisom Nwokwu tweeted on X. “Why is the MTN network messy today of all days?” Lola Okunrin tweeted.
Read also: NCC orders telcos to simplify tariff plans
Many subscribers blamed the network glitch on the ongoing protest against bad governance. On Friday, 36 civil society organisations described the outage as an intentional internet disruption aimed at disrupting the ongoing nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests.
In a letter addressed to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, the groups alleged “the throttling of internet speed nationwide, aimed at slowing down information dissemination.”
“The weaponisation of Internet disruptions and blocking or shutdowns during political unrest only exacerbates the underlying concerns of citizens. These shutdowns go against Chapter four of Nigeria’s Constitution that assures its citizens of their rights to freedom of conscience, expression, assembly and association,” they added.
The letter was signed by bodies such as the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), FactCheck Africa Initiative, and Media Rights Agenda (MRA).
However, industry sources argue that the disruption was unconnected. “More people will be online today, so why will we want to sabotage that?” one industry source said.
Another industry source attributed the network glitch on one of the telcos to damaged fibre and external sabotage. “A fibre manhole of one of the operators was set ablaze along Lekki Epe Expressway,” the source said.
Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, emphasised that telecom operators were not instructed to disrupt network services because of the protest. “There’s no instruction to tamper with the network, absolutely no instruction from my office,” he said on Channels Television on August 1.
However, he suggested that a surge in online traffic might have contributed to connection lags. “You expect the traffic will be extremely high. And I’m not saying that’s the cause,” he stated.
Nigeria’s internet speed and capacity have recently come under scrutiny due to infrastructural deficit. In its draft National AI Strategy released last Friday, the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy noted that the country has limited internet access and bandwidth.
“Nigeria’s internet speeds are considerably slower than developed nations. According to the Speedtest Global Index, Nigeria’s average download speed is around 35 Mbps, significantly lower than the global average of 93 Mbps (as of April 2024), placing Nigeria at a worldwide rank of 111th and 140th on mobile and fixed broadband, respectively,” the report stated.
