Poor services: Reps to probe telecom companies

Posted by admin Headlines, House, Legislature Friday, July 15th, 2011

THE House of Representatives, on Thursday, set the machinery in motion to probe the unsatisfactory services being provided by the telecommunications operators in Nigeria.

To this end, the House resolved that its Committee on Communications, when constituted, should probe the activities of the telecommunications companies and report back to the House for appropriate legislative action.

The resolution was sequel to a motion sponsored by Honourable Eddie Mbadiwe representing Imo State on the ticket of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), saying that “the services of the current mobile providers are irregular, epileptic, irritating, expensive and sometimes frustrating, certainly not up to the speed to drive the economy of Nigeria.”

According to him, “telecommunications tariffs have crashed globally, but charges in Nigeria have remained high and, in some cases, rates charged to Nigerians by the companies are on the high side, as compared with charges in neighbouring African countries.”

Supporting the motion, Honourable Zakari Mohammed from Kwara State, on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said “Nigeria suffers a great deal, it is only in Nigeria that you have network problem and it is the duty of this House to ensure that Nigerians should have value for their money.”

In the same vein, Honourable Mohammed Onawo from Nassarawa State and Honourable Onyewuchi Ezenwa from Imo State urged the House to be more concerned about strengthening Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) and Consumer Protection Council (CPC), so that they would rise up to the challenges of ensuring that Nigerians got better services from the operators.

While decrying the poor services by the telecommunication companies, Hono-urable Razak Osagie blamed the CPC and other regulating agency for failing in their duties to protect Nigerians from exploitation.

-Tribunewp_posts