However, when the D-Day came; the event turned out a huge extended family unification affair, the physical distance separating the family members notwithstanding. Grand mum and grand dad, Uncle Dan in Ontario, Canada, Uncle Ime in Lagos and Aunty Meg in Paisley, Scotland, all joined the event via Zoom^®, one of the trending online-meeting apps. 

Grandpa prayed rather profusely online for his first grandchild and everyone chorused “amen!” Grandma went on to announce her own pet name for the new addition to the family and everyone applauded.  From Southern Nigeria to far-away Canada and even the United Kingdom, the ceremony held online, real-time. 

They all felt they were together at a point. More interesting is that the power of telecoms facilities saved the old man and woman the disappointment of missing out on the naming ceremony of their first grandchild. 

Ntia and her family, scattered all over the world, may not be the only ones whose lives have experienced sophistication in the use of telecoms services.  

Ikechukwu’s story might interest you.   He is a dealer in building materials with customers scattered all over Lagos. Penultimate Monday, James, a building contractor and big customer to Ikechukwu, called for the supply of roofing sheets immediately after the lockdown. Unfortunately, the President, on that Monday night, extended the lockdown by another two weeks. But James had no choice but to conclude the transaction as he asked to see samples of the available roofing sheets so he could select the design he wanted. 

“I don’t want to spend the money on something else,” he confided in Ikechukwu, and asked for his account details to enable him to transfer the cost of the roofing sheet. The trader sent him videos of the materials in his store and the deal was sealed and the money was transferred with an agreement that the goods will be delivered immediately the lockdown is over.

These phenomena have become the norm across the length and breadth of our country today. What was once considered as elitist by those who stuck to the traditional way of doing business have become the norm in contemporary Nigeria. The old have been forced to make a volte-face; they have come to accept the novel and modern ways of living which the telecommunications industry has powered. The traditional way of transacting business has transformed into the online platform which is data-driven with a spice of social networking. Organisations are working from home using online tools; meetings are held online and signing of documents done virtually. Webinars are taking the place of seminars.

In line with global precedent, the federal government ordered a total stay at home regime in Lagos and Ogun states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Almost at the same time, especially when evidence of increasing infections of the disease began to manifest, state governments, one after the other, also declared a lockdown in their domains. But somehow, business had to continue; the faithful had to worship; students had to learn, and generally, life had to go on.

Given these scenarios, the telecoms consumer across all strata of society in Nigeria has been practically forced to upgrade from the normal, customary use of technology to more sophisticated use of data-enabled mobile and non-mobile devices. Today, Christians and Muslims are connecting to their sources for their worship online on diverse kinds of platforms and apps.  Schools are going online as pupils now take lessons from home while many adults are doing online courses. 

Telemedicine is trending as local medics are working together with their foreign counterparts, real time online via 4G connections to find cures, vaccines and complete complex medical procedures. In a related development, the Lagos State government recently announced that Lagosians can connect to various hospitals through dedicated lines to complain of any ailment to doctors and consultants on duty. This is a new flip to medical practice in Nigeria, which willy-nilly, has come to stay even after the lockdown. 

I can’t help wondering how all this would have been possible in such a short span of time if we didn’t have a robust and future ready telecom practice in this country. This couldn’t have been possible but for the foresightedness and courage of companies like Globacom, Nigeria’s Second National Carrier, who invested significant amounts of money ahead of time in building large network capacities with the confidence that they would generate the necessary demand over time by democratizing voice and data for the common man.

Globacom invested in Glo-1, a wholly-owned facility that brought unprecedented international bandwidth from Europe to Nigeria and other West African countries and connected them to the rest of the world. The arrival of that facility in 2010 marked the beginning of the crashing of bandwidth costs in Nigeria and the rest of West Africa, thereby facilitating more access to broadband internet. Globacom also invested generously in the infrastructure to deliver the last mile to end-users through a fibre optic cable network spanning thousands of kilometres covering almost every part of the country, giving its subscribers crystal clear voice calls and seamless internet connectivity. Together with the microwave network, the fibre network delivers the connectivity that people require to boost their productivity at work or enhance their entertainment at home or on the go.

 The operator which was the first to implement a nationwide 4G LTE deployment is expanding the ultra-fast data network to cover the fringe cities and settlements across the country which will in turn provide internet access to millions of Nigerians especially in the hinterlands. This will in turn boost the economy as the link between broadband penetration and economic prosperity of a country has been conclusively demonstrated in many studies.

So it is no wonder that we are ready to easily leap-frog into the future. And now the world is opening up to us in many more interesting ways; famous wild life parks are offering tours of their sanctuary; major theatres across the world are offering an opportunity of a life time to watch famous plays; well renowned museums offering conducted tours to help us trawl through all their precious and priceless artifacts, to name a few. All this would help in cultivating a breed of more worldly aware and savvy telecom sophisticates. 

I am confident that, with telecom companies such as Globacom, the Nigerian consumer can look forward to the future with great optimism. 

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