Lagos Restates Commitment to Telecom Law
By Shaka Momodu
Lagos State government has condemned the Association of Licensed Telecommuni-cations Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) for what it described as an unwarranted campaign of disinformation and calumny against the state's newly enacted law. The State's Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr Dele Alake in a press statement yesterday defended the law saying, "we must reiterate, that the jurisdiction of the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency is not limited to ensuring adherence to the environmental and physical planning laws of the state. Some of its wide ranging functions include providing protection of the network of roads in Lagos State, reducing damage to public utilities, establishing harmonised routes for laying of cables, etc, keeping track of the various systems using the public rights of way to prevent interference among facilities and ensuring public safety in the use of public rights of way by gas, telephone, electric, cable companies and other persons in Lagos State. The misleading impression must, therefore, not be created that the law was enacted solely for the telecommunications industry."
He said ALTON's grouse are the new tariffs which telecommunications outfits must pay to maintain masts, towers and other installations in the state.
Alake said anyone who attended the last meeting between Governor Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of ALTON in July would have thought that both parties had reached a mutually acceptable position on the matter.
Alake added that it is impossible to logically fault the decision of government to regulate and control the erection and installation of masts, towers, cables etc in a densely populated city-state of over 15 million people.
"After all, we have had cases in the past of masts collapsing, leading to injuries and damage to property. No responsible government will shirk its responsibility of ensuring that masts are properly installed to avert disaster and that they are cited where they do not constitute health hazards to the people."
The commissioner pointed out that the Supreme Court has unequivocally upheld the constitutional position that states are fully responsible for the physical planning and control of every inch of land within their geographical demarcation. "The regulation of the erection and installation of masts, towers, cables etc is, therefore, only in furtherance of the state's constitutional powers on physical planning and environmental control." He wondered why any corporate organisation should be reluctant to give something back for the upliftment of the society where its business flourishes?
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