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By Sunday Ani
A public affairs commentator and lawyer, Ilemona Onoja, has warned that additional regulatory costs arising from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s (FCCPC) oversight of airtime credit services could eventually push up prices for about 40 million Nigerians who depend on the facility.
Onoja, speaking on the implications of the Federal High Court judgment in the regulatory dispute between the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN) and the FCCPC, said operators would ultimately pass additional compliance costs to consumers.
“Are my costs going to go up if I borrow credit? Yes, your cost will go up because of this extra regulatory cost added to the whole thing,” he said during an online discussion on Sunday.
According to him, operators would be subjected to an additional regulatory process that would cost money, with the burden eventually reflected in the prices paid by consumers.
“The companies are going to take on extra costs. They are going to be subjected to an extra process that is going to cost them money. In economics, we all know that producers pass extra costs down to the consumers,” Onoja said.
His warning came against the backdrop of the continuing legal dispute over the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, 2025, otherwise known as the DEON Regulations.
The FCCPC introduced the regulations to establish standards for digital and non-traditional lending, citing concerns, including exploitative practices, data privacy violations, abusive recovery methods, transparency and responsible lending.
The rules took effect on July 21, 2025.
WASPAN subsequently challenged the regulations, questioning the FCCPC’s authority to regulate activities within the telecommunications value-added services sector, particularly airtime and data credit services.
In its July 20 judgment, the Federal High Court in Lagos upheld the validity of the DEON Regulations but clarified the relationship between the FCCPC and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Onoja said the judgment recognised the NCC as the primary regulator in telecommunications while allowing the FCCPC to exercise a subsidiary consumer-protection role, provided its regulations do not conflict with those of the sector regulator.
“The court also clarified that if the NCC as the primary industry regulator does a set of regulations, the FCCPC can do a subsidiary set of regulations, but that subsidiary set of regulations must not conflict with the primary industry regulator,” he said.
The court’s position is particularly significant for the telecoms industry, where the NCC retains responsibility for telecommunications licensing and technical regulation.
Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, had urged the NCC and FCCPC to clearly define their respective roles following the judgment, warning against regulatory actions that could again disrupt access to airtime and data credit services.
Adebayo said the industry needed regulatory clarity, particularly because about 40 million Nigerians depend on airtime and data credit services.
“What is happening in the airtime credit market is not simply a dispute between regulators. It is a test of whether the structures that underpin business confidence in this country are functioning as they should,” Adebayo had said during the earlier phase of the dispute.
The ALTON chairman also called for an orderly resolution of the regulatory issues, stressing that consumers should not again be exposed to disruptions arising from regulatory disagreements.
The need for coordination between the two agencies is not entirely new. In January 2025, the NCC and FCCPC signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening consumer protection and promoting greater regulatory collaboration in the telecommunications sector.
At the signing, NCC Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Aminu Maida, described the agreement as the beginning of a strategic partnership between two critical regulatory institutions committed to advancing consumer welfare through fair competition and consumer protection.
Maida said collaboration was particularly important because telecommunications had become central to Nigeria’s economic and social development.
The NCC subsequently said it was working with the FCCPC to resolve issues surrounding the suspension of airtime and data credit services during the regulatory dispute
For the FCCPC, however, the objective of the DEON framework remains consumer protection.
FCCPC Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tunji Bello, had said the regulations were introduced against the background of complaints over harassment, data breaches and unethical practices associated with unregulated digital lending.
“For too long, Nigerians have endured harassment, data breaches and unethical practices by unregulated digital lenders,” Bello said while explaining the regulations, adding “These regulations make it clear that innovation is welcome, but never at the expense of consumer rights or the rule of law,” he added.
The FCCPC has also maintained that it did not ban airtime borrowing or data advance services, saying its regulatory intervention was aimed at addressing complaints involving opaque charges, unexplained deductions, aggressive recovery practices, poor disclosure and inadequate accountability.
The commission suspended enforcement of the DEON regulations in April following an interim order of the Federal High Court in Lagos in the WASPAN suit.
Following the July 20 judgment, the FCCPC resumed implementation of the regulations, while WASPAN appealed the decision and sought to challenge the court’s interpretation of the commission’s powers.
Onoja, however, argued that the additional layer of regulation could increase the cost and complexity of doing business.
“I do not believe anybody intended that we would have a second tier of regulatory power which naturally will increase cost and make business operations a little more convoluted,” he said.
He said the potential impact was significant given the estimated size of the airtime credit market, which he put at about N400 billion annually, with roughly 40 million Nigerians using the service.
He argued that the additional regulatory involvement could increase operating costs and create uncertainty for investors and service providers.
“When there is uncertainty, it increases interest rates,” he said, explaining that investors seeking to hedge against additional regulatory risks could factor such costs into their pricing.
He added that the issue was particularly important because airtime credit involved high-volume, relatively low-value transactions involving millions of consumers.
He said the dispute also raised broader questions about regulatory coordination across Nigeria’s economy, arguing that the immediate controversy could have been avoided through greater engagement among the relevant government institutions.
“This thing could have been avoided if four people had sat in a room,” he said, referring to the ministers responsible for communications and trade, as well as the heads of the NCC and FCCPC.
He said the appeal would be crucial in determining the eventual scope of the FCCPC’s powers.
“I am adamant in my belief that the people who drafted the FCCPC Act did not intend for it to be this sort of overarching super agency with superpowers of control,” Onoja said.
For millions of Nigerians who rely on airtime credit, the outcome of the appeal could, therefore, have implications beyond the legal boundaries between the two regulators, particularly if compliance costs associated with the additional regulatory layer are ultimately reflected in the cost of accessing the service.
