Minister Refutes Claims of Government Manipulation of Telecom Networks During Protest

Bosun Tijani, the minister of communication, innovation, and digital economy, has refuted accusations that the federal government instructed telecom providers to manipulate their networks during the protest on August 1.

Poor phone network connectivity was a common complaint among Nigerians during yesterday's rally.

Speaking on Channels TV Friday night, Tijani stated that telecom companies were not receiving any directives from the government. He said, "There is no instruction to tamper with the network. Absolutely no instruction. You also need to understand that when you have a significant amount of people not at work, people are online, and so you would expect the traffic to be extremely high. I am not saying that is the cause. I have not done any technical assessment."