Even before this unfortunate but necessary\nlockdown of Lagos and Ogun States by the\nPresident of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the coronavirus pandemic sweeping\nacross the world has brought untold hardship to individuals and businesses in\nNigeria in general and Lagos State in particular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it can be different strokes for\nthe three most viable sectors of the Nigerian economy, \u2014 banking,\ntelecommunications and oil and gas. Though, banks are partially exempted from\nthe lockdown, they are bound to lose out in heavy business transactions within\nthe period. They may need to make do with multifarious micro charges,\nespecially ATM and account transfer fees. The petroleum product retailers are\nexempted from the lockdown as filling stations remain open across the states\nbut there is no gainsaying that business is not the same for them. Apparently,\nthe restriction of movement means that they will only cater to those few\nprofessionals exempted from the lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While all other sector, including the\nbanking and oil and gas are reeling in massive loses occasioned by this\nlockdown, one sector which will remain even or in some cases make more money\nduring the period is the telecommunications sector. This is as a result of the\nnature of the business they do, which has become a sine qua non to human\nfunctionality in this modern civilization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have reached the point in human\nexistence where almost every other essential form of human endeavour are\nstructured on telecommunications, be it security, health care and mass\ncommunication. Simply put, the lockdown entails that people remain at home but\nwhile businesses and their sources of livelihood suffer, they must communicate\nwith their loved ones who they cannot see for some time. And they must retain\ntheir sanity by keeping themselves entertained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the restriction of movements, data\nsubscription by Nigerians has gone up exponentially. Sources at some of the telecommunications\ncompanies say there have been almost more than twice the voice calls through\ntheir networks. Since the lockdown, people have taken solace in social media and\nmessaging applications like Facebook, instagram, twitter and whatsapp, not just\nto keep abreast with development but to pass messages around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatsapp groups have become de facto social\ncommunities where people seek information, exchange ideas and even trade\ndigital blows. Celebrities have been engaging their fans more frequently than\nusual on social media, despite the fact that no work is going on. Everyone\nwants to say something on social media and this means a huge upsurge in data\nconsumption. Furthermore, communications in social media has been data\nintensive as graphics and videos have been shared and forwarded billions of\ntimes. This is definitely more money for the service providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have also been a lot of activities\naround streaming sites as people sit at home. Youtube for instance has seen an\nexponential number of visitors and impressions on their platrform in the last\nfew weeks while other streaming sites like Netflix has also seen a lot of\nsubscriptions and viewership. Audio streaming sites like spotify, apple music\nand deezer have increased patronage on the platforms. All these platforms\nconsume data voraciously and the telecommunications companies are there to\nprovide all the data subscriptions for a fee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the increased voice calls and heavy\ndata usage means that the telecommunications companies will not come out of\nthis lockdown bearish and almost going bankrupt like most other business but\nmight even come out in stronger financial footing or at least even. Granted,\nthe telecommunications companies are going to also lose a lot of patronage from\nlocked businesses but the will sure come out of this better than other sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013KELECHI OKORIE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even before this unfortunate but necessary lockdown of Lagos and Ogun States by the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the world has brought untold hardship…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":127707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19494,20055],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/telecom1.jpeg?fit=750%2C422&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":136649,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/buhari-exempts-banks-money-markets-from-lockdown\/","url_meta":{"origin":137306,"position":0},"title":"Buhari exempts banks, money markets from lockdown","author":"Reporter","date":"March 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Banks and other\u00a0key players in the financial services sector have been exempted from the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja following an approval the\u00a0Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) secured from President Buhari.\u00a0 Recall that in a nationwide broadcast on Sunday March 29,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/5e81e755033b0.jpg?fit=775%2C435&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/5e81e755033b0.jpg?fit=775%2C435&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/5e81e755033b0.jpg?fit=775%2C435&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/5e81e755033b0.jpg?fit=775%2C435&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138706,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/gov-oyetola-extends-lockdown-in-osun-state\/","url_meta":{"origin":137306,"position":1},"title":"Gov Oyetola Extends Lockdown In Osun State","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"May 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State has announced the extension of lockdown and restriction of movement in the state till Sunday. The initial lockdown in the state was to expire on Thursday (today) but the governor announced an additional three days extension. Oyetola announced that starting from Monday, the lockdown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Oyetola, Osun State,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Oyetola-Osun-State.jpg?fit=500%2C333&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":140884,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/lagos-records-201-covid-19-cases-amid-lockdown-ease\/","url_meta":{"origin":137306,"position":2},"title":"Lagos Records 201 COVID-19 Cases Amid Lockdown Ease","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"June 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Nigeria on Wednesday, June 10, recorded 409 new coronavirus cases taking the country\u2019s total confirmed tally to 13,873. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) the new cases were spread across 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). A tweet put out by the NCDC late on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Coronavirus, NCDC, COVID-19, Nigeria,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/update2.jpg?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/update2.jpg?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/update2.jpg?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/update2.jpg?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/update2.jpg?fit=1080%2C540&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136660,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/covid-19-huriwa-attacks-president-over-abuja-lagos-ogun-lock-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":137306,"position":3},"title":"COVID-19: HURIWA attacks President over Abuja, Lagos, Ogun lock down","author":"Reporter","date":"March 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A prominent civil rights group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Tuesday said President Muhammadu Buhari lacks \u201chuman empathy.\u201d HURIWA stated that the President was not prepared to strictly adhere to the law regarding the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. It was reacting to Buhari\u2019s nationwide broadcast wherein\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Garba Shehu, Sowore, Media,","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/President-Buhari.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/President-Buhari.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/President-Buhari.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136593,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/seven-key-points-from-president-buharis-coronavirus-national-broadcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":137306,"position":4},"title":"Seven Key Points From President Buhari’s Coronavirus National Broadcast","author":"Damilare Salami","date":"March 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"After four weeks since Nigeria\u2019s first case of the novel coronavirus disease. 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