Suspend planned tariff increase, Reps tells FG

The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commissions to suspend the impending hike in telecommunications tariffs until the services offered by the telecom companies improved.

This followed a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Oboji Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa), on the need to halt the recent increase in tariffs by the telecom companies.

Leading the debate on the motion, Oforji recalled the announcement by the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani that telecommunication tariffs will soon increase.

He said, “According to the Minister, consultations are ongoing as some of these companies have agitated to increase tariffs to as high as 100 percent. He, however, said it would not be a 100 percent increase and that the Nigerian Communications Commission would approve the new tariffs and announce them in due course.

“The argument of the telecommunications companies for the hike includes the cost of investment, better networks, and increasing demand for digital services across sectors such as education, banking, and healthcare amongst others.

However, Dominic Okafor (APGA, Anambra) said that for telecom operators to offer effective services, they should be allowed to increase their tariffs since the cost of doing business in the country has increased substantially.