Residents and business owners in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory have continued to lament persistent disruption of mobile networks in the area, particularly those of MTN Nigerian and Globacom. The residents say most of the network providers in the area have abandoned customers who depend largely on their networks to transact businesses.
The residents were hard hit on Wednesday when they woke up to yet another disruption in mobile network services affecting users of MTN Nigeria, a development many say is crippling communication and business activities in the area.
Reports early Wednesday morning indicated that MTN subscribers across Bwari and neighbouring communities were unable to access network services, leaving many residents stranded without communication or internet connectivity.
A check by DAILY POST confirmed the situation, with several residents complaining that the network failure had severely disrupted commercial activities, particularly transactions that depend on internet connectivity and mobile banking services.
Some residents who spoke with DAILY POST noted that the problem was not new, stressing that the community has been battling intermittent network failures from both MTN and Glo mobile for a long time without a lasting solution from the companies
Residents, Businesses Decry Impact of Poor Network
Mr. Koboko Master, a popular Nigerian comedian who resides in the area, described the situation as a recurring challenge that frequently leaves residents cut off from communication.
“MTN Internet in our area is bad, very bad, Sometimes the network disappears totally and you become completely incommunicado, except for those who have routers that can still use WhatsApp. But if you don’t use WhatsApp, it means you will miss everything entirely.” He said.
“This has been very consistent. It turns on and off regularly. It’s not something that happens once in a year or once in a month. It happens consistently, and it is a very big problem,” he added.
Madam Ogochukwu Jenifer, a building materials dealer at SCC Bwari and an MTN subscriber, also lamented that the poor network service was negatively affecting her business.
“Network is very bad in this Bwari area,” she said.
“Honestly, it is affecting our business. You cannot use your internet and so many things are not working. You want to do transactions, but there is no transaction because of network.
“So it’s not funny. No communication means no business. Things are just standing still.”
A banker in the area who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the persistent network problem was affecting not only individuals and businesses but also banking operations.
“Most of the time people come with complaints about failed transactions, but at the end of the day, you discover that the problem is not from us. It’s because they don’t have good internet service to complete their transactions, or they don’t have network at all,” he explained.
“That situation is also affecting us here because people who normally do simple transactions at home are forced to come to the bank. That can lead to an increase in customer queues,” he lament.
Efforts to get a response from MTN Nigeria on the cause of the network disruption and the steps being taken to address the problem were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.
Social Media Reactions Highlight Widespread Frustration
The frustration of residents was also evident on social media. In a post shared in the popular Facebook group “Bwari Abuja Connect,” a user Johnson Oyakhire, raised concerns about the persistent network issues, asking other residents whether they were experiencing the same challenge.
“A beg, this MTN network wahala – na my phone get problem or na general issue?” the post read.
The question quickly drew reactions from other residents who confirmed experiencing similar problems.
One commenter, Bishop David Akin Asoore, said the situation appeared to be limited to certain areas of Bwari.
“As soon as I got to Dutse Express, network came fully,” he wrote, suggesting that the network disruption may be location-specific.
Another user, Samuel Harrison replied “Na general wahala ooo, Me since yesterday, I never use my network.To make matter worse, my 2gb don go” closed by crying emoji.
In a related post on X (formerly Twitter), a user, Adeboye Sylvia Omotayo, called on MTN Nigeria to urgently address the issue.
She wrote that the network had been unavailable for several hours, noting that she uses three MTN SIM cards but had been unable to access services.
“There is a downtime in Bwari, Abuja. Kindly look into this urgently please. I use three SIMs, all MTN, and it is sad because your service has been down for hours now,” she wrote.
Responding to the complaint, MTN Nigeria apologized for the inconvenience and asked the customer to send additional details through a direct message to enable the support team investigate the problem.
“Yello! Thank you for contacting MTN. We sincerely apologize for the network experience. Kindly DM the affected phone number, specific location, duration of the network challenge and confirm if it is voice or data related for support,” the company said.
It’s Not Just MTN – Users
Meanwhile, a GLO customer in Ushafa Abuja, Andrew Otene also lamented persistent network disruption of the network. According to him, virtually all networks in Bwari Area Council of the FCT are weak, especially Glo.
“Can you imagine that I subscribe huge data on my Glo almost every month but I don’t use it. So if we are blaming MTN for network disruption, we shouldn’t keep quiet over Glo,” he said.
Findings by DAILY POST shows that more people complain about both Glo and MTN than any other network in the area council.
According to one Okoro John, a Pharmacist, Glo network could just disappeared for days without any action from the service provider.
According to him, “ They just restore network anytime they want. They may decide to disrupt our network for even one week and it will look normal. This is sad,” he said.
There has been no official statement or notification from the companies to its subscribers regarding the situation in the area.