From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Grassroots Centre for Rights and Civic Orientation has condemned the recent decision of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to approve a 50% hike in telecom tariffs.
It claimed that the 50% hike was announced without due consideration of the current excruciating economic burdens Nigerians are facing.
Its Executive Director, Armsfree Ajanaku, in a statement yesterday, said it was quite disheartening that the NCC succumbed to the pressure of telecommunications companies, whose epileptic and unreliable services have, over the years, left Nigerians and their businesses in constant frustration.
Ajanaku noted that from dropped calls to internet downtime and glitches, Nigerians have continued to endure terrible services, while the regulatory body turns a blind eye.
According to him, the NCC’s argument justifying the tariff hike was based on the notion that tariff rates have remained static since 2013, despite the increasing cost of operations faced by telecom operators.
But, he argued, “Any reasonable observer would have expected the focus of the NCC to be on the quality of service being provided by the telcos.
“The fundamental question is: does the current quality of service on offer justify any hike whatsoever? Even if the cost of inflation and exchange rate volatility is considered, does a 50% rise in tariffs not constitute an overkill at a time Nigerians are groaning as a result of economic hardships?
“As a regulator, is the NCC’s role to help the telcos engage in price gouging or to ensure a telecom industry with world-class quality of service?
“Also, the point about the rising cost of operations driven by inflation, foreign exchange volatility, and the increased cost of diesel and network maintenance were not caused by ordinary Nigerians.
“Those policies, which exponentially escalated the cost of essential goods and services, were pushed through by the government, despite the wise counsel offered that it should tread with caution. In essence, this hike is a case of ordinary Nigerians being punished and having to bear the brunt of the government’s hastily executed and poorly implemented economic policies.”
He noted that, with this increase, Nigerians would now be paying as much as N16.50 per minute for calls, up from N11 per minute.
“The cost of SMS is also projected to rise to N6 from N4, while the cost of 1 gigabyte of data will now most likely rise to N431.25 from N350.
“At the last count, citizens have been reeling under the effects of higher fuel costs, higher payments for electricity tariffs, and now an arbitrary hike in telecom services.
“As such, there can be no disputing the fact that the latest hike is extortionate and driven more by the profiteering of the telcos, and not the ideal objective of addressing the abysmally poor quality of telecom services.
“It is also instructive that the NCC has provided no roadmap or strategy for ensuring the telcos do better in terms of providing seamless and efficient services. Grassroots Centre therefore calls for a reversal of the telecom tariff hike.”
He called on the NCC to “immediately share with Nigerians a comprehensive framework for ensuring telcos deliver in terms of providing Nigerians with world-class telecom services.
“Only such a service-driven approach can birth a telecom industry, which will serve Nigeria’s economic development, not the arbitrary profiteering of a few telecom giants.”