As we continue to hold the fort in the fight against this pandemic, we are all in search of answers that will predict the origin or the end of this nightmare, as it is all over the world.

As we try to find answers, which is actually a great idea, a perfect way to narrow that search is to seek experts or at least, work with facts from trusted organisations.

A Thread

Firstly, CBN, in partnership with private companies birthed the CA-COVID-19 initiative, an alliance that will be used in a wider fight against the pandemic. So far, contributions from this alliance is quite commendable, I must say.

The other day, I read this Guardian interview with @mtnng chairman, Ernest Ndukwe, where he clarified the 5G/COVID-19 conspiracy. It covered lots of issues that has us worried at the moment.

There’s a lot that could go wrong when we do not have the right information. For example, do we realise that ‘5G is not in Nigeria’. Yes, @mtnng tested 5G in Q4 last year but if you do your research, you’d realise the headlines had words like ‘demo’, ‘trial’

and the videos reveal something like a test-run.

They simply showed us the capacity of the 5G technology and explore its applications with Nigerian businesses and consumers. Nothing more. Nothing less.

As a matter of fact, these tests were limited in nature and have since been decommissioned. There is a reason why are regulatory bodies like @FMOCDENigeria and @NgComCommission exist. It is to regulate the activities of telcos

About its relationship with COVID-19? There is absolutely none. These are two separate issues, totally independent of each other.

Like the chairman advised, we need to look at a recent study by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNRP)

an independent international watchdog, which confirmed there is no risk of harm to people, including children, from exposure to radio frequencies from mobile networks, including 5G.

These are results from 20 years of research, results which are supported by the World Health Organization. These results have been re-iterated by the Nigerian Communications Commission who monitor radiation emissions from base stations nationally (none of which are 5G

and have confirmed that they are well within set limits.
Surely, you will not discredit 20 years of research at the very least. If you point out the recent laying of fibre cables as a deployment of 5G in Nigeria, I will tell you this for free. It’s common sense.

If you were consuming X amount of data and airtime in a week before, the lockdown has more or less tripled our consumption so while we enjoy Tik Tok and the likes of them, like 70 million others, the telco guys are hard at work repairing & maintaining the network to keep you

connected at this difficult time. Because if the network crashes at this point, that’s when we all understand the true meaning of social distancing.

For those asking, the interview was carried out by The Guardian NG. You might want to check it out. Here's the link: https://m.guardian.ng/technology/telecoms/any-assertion-linking-5g-to-covid-19-pandemic-is-absurd-and-scientifically-flawed-says-ndukwe/amp/