By Obioma Ezenwobodo
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently adjusted telecom tariffs by a 50% increment. These jacked-up tariffs would adversely affect the cost of calls, data, and text messages for over 224 million telecom subscribers in Nigeria. This increment is wrong, unilateral, unfair, unjust, and an abuse of the dominant position of the NCC in contrast to the existential regulatory framework and debilitating hardship in the country.
One of the main objectives of the NCC is to protect the rights and interests of service providers (MTN, GLO, and AIRTEL & Others) and consumers in Nigeria. The contemplation of the NCC Act, 2003 is to serve as a wedge against the exploitation of Nigerian consumers by Service Providers on one hand and to facilitate the growth of the Telecom industry on the other hand.
Sections 108, 109, and 110 of the NCC Act provide that the NCC shall make regulations determining tariffs and charges for respective telecom services by the Service Providers. The powers of the NCC to make regulations on tariff adjustment are provided by section 70 of the NCC Act. As a matter of law, section 71 of the NCC Act provides that before making the regulation, the NCC shall conduct an inquiry in the manner specified in Part 11 of the Act. By section 57 (3) of the NCC Act, the NCC is compelled to hold a public inquiry in all instances that it is mandatorily required under the Act or its subsidiary legislation to hold an inquiry. The clear implication of section 57 (3) is that, by the fact that section 71 has mandated the NCC to conduct an inquiry before making a regulation, the NCC is mandated to conduct the inquiry publicly. In other words, the NCC is compelled by its enabling law to conduct a public inquiry before coming up with the Telecom Tariff Hike. The intention of the draftsmen in crafting these provisions is obviously to provide the telecom regulator (NCC), the Service Providers, and the Consumers an avenue to present their positions, negotiate upon the same, and jointly arrive at fair and just telecom tariffs.
It is not contemplated in the NCC Act for the NCC to arbitrarily fix telecom tariffs without input from the public. It is beyond imagination that such an important decision would be made without carrying the final recipients on board. This is a clear abuse of the dominant position that the NCC Act has placed on the NCC and provided against by section 74(1) and (2) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018. Also, this unilateral action against millions of Nigerian telecom consumers amounts to unfair dealing and unjust as provided by sections 124 and 127 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018, respectively.
The implication of the NCC failure to adhere to the statutorily procedure renders the tariff hike unlawful and void. It is fervently believed that the NCC, being a law-abiding institution, will tow the path of law by complying with the provisions of its enabling law to first conduct a public inquiry to determine the fair and just telecom tariffs to be made before any announcement of same.
Obioma Ezenwobodo LL.M.
Managing Partner, Resolution Attorneys
Executive Director, Policy and Legislative Advocacy Network (PLAN)
