"Dear network providers, please stop... [Writer's contest 3]"

With an average of 10 messages and 5 automated calls every single day, network providers here in Nigeria can drive even the most patient monk nuts and I never was patient. At first I thought it was peculiar to my own network but after consulting with my friends and colleagues, it's clear they are all the same.

Woe betide you if you are expecting an important call, or expecting a bank alert, these guys might just give you a heart attack. I once had an urgent payment to make, and since I did not have enough money to cover it, I reached out to my brother. Now all I had to do, was ‘wait’. SMS after SMS came in, sure enough over 90% of it was from my ogas at the top.

After about 4 hours reminding myself it’s not the phone’s fault(I almost smashed it), I had had enough and stormed the nearest ATM machine to check my balance manually. Of course the money was already in my account, it turns out that banks unlike my ‘ogas’ don't like to bother us with unnecessary messages, including important credit alerts.

Now I am  not against advertisements, I understand it's role in the growth of businesses and the economy in general, but this is not a free service. I bought the SIM and phone with my money, and buy airtime/data from the money i earn, so I have the right not to be bothered by these providers.

I mean it's bad enough to have to deal with cold calls from actual living salespeople but been bombarded by automated(computerised) calls every other hour is “annoyingly irritating” (forgive my English). They steadily call you like an insecure spouse, constantly switching numbers like a stalker and no longer use short codes which can be easily identified but clone the numbers to look like real callers.

Sure they tell you can unsubscribe from these messages by sending “STOP” to the number you received the message from, only for them to switch numbers and bury you with even more messages, like they are on a sort of payback mission. It’s a battle you simply cannot win.

Worse part, the authorities responsible for checking these guys are either in bed with them or too busy dancing skelewu to be concerned about us. They normally use fully loaded ‘special’ lines, so they don't get harassed like the rest of us even though they should, considering they never buy airtime.

I guess we won’t be getting any reprieve any time soon.

NAME: Ben Bassey