Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Communications on ruestcalled out the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for poor telecom services, rising insecurity, and what they described as unfair treatment of mobile subscribers.
The lawmakers made their complaints during a colloquium that focused on reviewing the 2003 Nigerian Communications Act, a law that has guided the country’s digital space for more than two decades.
The lawmakers raised issues about how criminals continue to use mobile networks to carry out illegal activities.
They claimed that the NCC and mobile operators have not done enough to stop this, even though they are aware of the security risks involved.
According to them, every major crime seems to make use of telecom infrastructure, yet no strong efforts have been made to stop it.
They said this has continued because the NCC has failed to act quickly or take the necessary steps to fix the outdated law earlier.
They also expressed anger about the high cost of telecom services and poor service delivery, such as dropped calls and bad signal quality.
One lawmaker complained that subscribers are being charged for calls that do not go through properly, while the network operators continue to make money.
Another legislator questioned whether the NCC truly cares about the suffering of consumers, as there seems to be no serious action to protect users from poor services or unfair charges.
Some lawmakers accused the NCC of working too closely with telecom operators and turning a blind eye to the struggles of Nigerians.
They argued that the relationship between the Commission and operators appears to be focused more on making profits than serving the people.
In response, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, said that the commission is aware of the concerns and has taken steps to fix them.
He explained that over 60 million SIM cards were deactivated last year because they were not linked to proper identity numbers, showing that the NCC is trying to make the system more secure.
He also claimed that no telecom company stops the police or other security agents from using the networks to track criminal activity.
Representatives from mobile network companies also reacted.
They denied gaining money from dropped calls and said that when a call fails, they lose money too.
MTN Nigeria, one of the largest operators, said that frequent damage to their underground fibre cables by vandals is one of the reasons behind poor network quality.
They also reminded the lawmakers that the government earns a lot in taxes from telecom companies every year.
The telecom operators insisted they are working closely with the police and other security bodies to track criminals.
They also said it’s unfair to blame them for crimes carried out using phones, just like one should not blame road builders for accidents caused by reckless drivers.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Abbas Tajudeen and other lawmakers agreed that digital services have grown over the years, especially in areas like mobile banking and online education.
However, they believe more work must be done to make sure all Nigerians benefit from digital technology, and the law guiding the sector must be updated to match present realities.
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