From Irrua to Abuja, a telecom user’s experience

It is certainly very refreshing to step out of your little bubble of comfort and visit some other parts of the country, especially for a good cause – the Reunion of ACCIOBA ’79 Set, the Annunciation Catholic College Old Boys who left school in 1979. Please, don’t add 46 years ago so that you don’t make us look like ancestors!

Nobody knew what to expect, a little apprehension you may want to add. But the organisers, Commodore Christian Anuge, Chris Okoh (Okoho) and Henry Edekor had built up a package which stamped equality on everybody in attendance, just the way we were when we got into ACC, all innocent children, although the bones are much stronger now.

There was some level of kindergarten candour to see faces of 46 years ago, now furrowed in experience and wizened by the vicissitudes of life, Dr Paschal Isele (Senior Prefect – SP), Dr Peter Okojie (Petito), Prof David Ogbeifun (Time Keeper), Peter Ativie (Kalamazoo), Lucky Igbeneoise (Picolo), Gabriel Uwagbor (CJ), Philip Okaro (Food Prefect – Ebale) and Prof Matthew Ighalo who gave the charge to the students, and many more. Prof Ogbeifun had not forgotten where the big bell was in the school compound, and Isele still had that commanding voice to call his colleagues to order.

The ‘79 Set is leading the front to restore ACC to its glory days and make it a frontline secondary school in Edo State. In addition to the efforts of the Set which has embarked on various projects, individual members like Peter Okojie and Godfrey Ekhomu are executing massive building projects that are totally transforming the landscape of the school.

There was palpable joy which attained a peak when we visited former Vice Principal, Mr A. U. Osobase who attained 85 years on March 5, 2025. Still maintaining an unbowed height and a noticeable dignity, he could read without glasses. It was a pot of fun recollecting old stories laced with childhood mischiefs and responses by a no-nonsense VP who was also the Physics teacher. Osobase remains a valuable bridge to a past that we shall cherish into eternity.

One thing though, the government should at least show some presence in that school to encourage the efforts of the Old Boys who are investing a lot of money. For instance, Engr Austine Omobude built a big Health Centre which is also serving the   health needs of the host community.

However, this writer observed that whether it was at dinner in the evening or some interesting moments at the poolside of Heam Hotel at Ewu, there was frustration for people who wanted to reach out to their loved ones, whether in Nigeria or abroad. Quite a number of us came from the US and the UK, and even as some of us, local folks couldn’t get across to anybody most of the time. The conclusion was predictable. There was no network or the network was poor.

And this hurts. Since the tipping point of the telecommunications industry in the early 2000, poor network has remained a troubling refrain. In whatever part of the country you go, the experience remains the same. The regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) responded by creating quality of service thresholds for industry operators. That doesn’t appear to have worked at all.

Late last year, when the Commission shared information on its activities, it changed that concept to quality of experience. So, it is not  the operator supplying data from its equipment headend to validate its output, but this time, the experience by the  user of the services. Like they say in my part of the country, it is the one bearing the load that is able to say how heavy it is.

I have told my story several times and will continue to do so until the nation is able to build a robust telecommunications network which can give users a good experience. On Monday, during the long drive with my friend and classmate, Dr Sylvanus Iriogbe, I did some quality of service monitoring, as crudely as it could be. I know that the NCC used to have a number of drive-through digitally equipped vehicles for quality of service monitoring. I have no idea how many they are now and whether they are able to traverse this vast nation even in the face of security challenges. But they did exist and I want to believe they are still functioning.

On Monday I didn’t have to wait for their state-of-the-art digital vehicles. It was a long drive from Ishan to Abuja. And that is what we suffer, dear friends. If you are from Ishan and are in a position to do air travel, so many permutations will assail your mind. Fly into Benin and take a long drive to Ishan, the roads are not very friendly. The people are expecting the various governments to play their role. If you choose the Asaba option and take an airport vehicle, you tabernacle with loneliness on very bad roads and, sometimes, face herdsmen’s menace. At some point, you have to carry your worries like that bird which grew a big head to carry its troubles.

I had lots of worries on the road that day but since the regulator has introduced what they call user experience instead of quality of service, there was an extra worry. I held my phone all the time, trying to make as much connections as possible. All the way, through Agbede, Auchi, Okpila, Okene, Lokoja, Abaji, Gwagwalada, quality of experience didn’t give so much joy.

But there is something more frightening. When you get into some stretch of land where there is not so much of human habitation, the network disappears almost completely. And here is my worry, what happens when there is an emergency on the road? In a land where ambulance services are hardly available and too many things in life too uncertain, who takes care of the travelers on the road?

There are too many reasons for the nation to improve its telecommunications network and even for the regulator to encourage operators to do so. The global economy doesn’t give so much encouragement but that shouldn’t be the headache of the innocent subscriber who just wants to talk or do simple business.

I agree with the NCC when they introduced user experience. I am saying without equivocations that my experience on the road on Monday wasn’t inspiring. The regulator and operators must take some extra measures to give subscribers some level of service comfort.