Earlier this month,
there were text messages alerting people to leave the Motorway Centre,
Ikeja, Lagos. The message said there was a bomb ready to explode any
moment in the area and this caused a lot of panic among Lagos
residents. In a season of bombs, many took the text seriously and the
Police Anti Bomb Squad actually moved to the premises and combed the
entire area but no bomb was found.
This is one of the
ubiquitous messages that are common with cell phone users in our
country. Funny, foolish and sexually explicit messages now dot the
landscape and subscribers seem helpless in the way they flood their
phones.
Other examples
include, “MTN is celebrating their six years in Zaria, send it to other
six people and get free 750. It is free, be sure it is from MTN to
MTN”. “If you know anyone that has money in Oceanic, Unity and
Intercontinental Bank, tell them to go and withdraw their money within
24 hours because information reaching us is that they may go on
distress soon,” says another.
But some of these
messages have had great consequence as they don’t all end the way the
Motorway Centre message did. “I saw the pictures of people queuing up
to withdraw their funds from the bank when the messages warning
customers to withdraw their funds (went round),” said Bisi Adetunji, a
graphic artists.
“A friend of mine
was able to get shots of people actually queuing up to withdraw their
funds, I actually saw that. I did not know the effect those messages
could have until I saw those pictures. It is the affected banks that
can really tell you the cost of that message.”
Intercontinental,
one of the banks responded with text messages of its own, assuring
customers that their money in its custody is safe. The Central Bank
also followed with adverts asking Nigerians to ignore the text messages.
The Nigeria
Communications Commission said last year that a nationwide SIM cards
registration would be done in a bid to enhance security and related
crimes perpetrated through mobile phones.
This, Mohammed
Yusuf a staff of a private security firm said, will enhance security as
such messages cause inconvenience to many who receive them and some
even get to the stage of being scared to use their phones. “Some are
sent by fraudulent people with dubious motives. Others would send you
messages that they are expecting some goods from the port and just need
some money to pick it up.”
Mr Yusuf suggested
that mobile service providers step up their responsibility for their
customers’ phones security so as to help them from being swindled.
Different perspective
However, some
subscribers have a different perspective saying information sharing can
actually save lives. Emmanuel Tarfa, a financial consultant said he
thinks operators can monitor the source of such messages for security
reasons only and relay the details to the security agencies.
“In a case where a
message is controversial but true, not sharing it could be dangerous to
the public. In addition, the telecom providers do not have the absolute
moral power to determine what is true or false, because Nigeria is made
up of different religions and ethnic groups, whose rights should be
protected. Their interference could mark the beginning of a censorship
campaign that could undermine the integrity of our information system
in Nigeria. Let the system regulate itself – people will eventually
learn to determine what is true or false”.
Similarly, Jito
Ogunye, a lawyer, said receiving such messages is not an infringement
of one’s privacy because the right to privacy guarantee of the
constitution cannot be stressed to cover the receipt of such text
messages.
“We live in a world
of ICT. Telephoning has become wireless so anybody that subscribes to
wireless telephony has put himself in a position to receive such
blanket messages. Now, if anyone feels that he has spent much time and
energy deleting such calls, such a fellow can sue the service provider”
However, phone operators were silent on the issue. MTN and Glo
spokespersons did not respond to enquiries. Same goes for Reuben Morka,
the NCC spokesperson.
