The Minister of Communication, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani has defended the tariff hike by telecommunication operators in the country, blaming inflation and rising costs for the increase.
TheNewsGuru reports that Minister during his appearance before the House of Representatives Committee on Telecom and Digital Economy on Tuesday disclosed how firms had initially sought a 100 tariff increase on calls and data but that the government had to bring it down to 50 percent.
But stakeholders, represented by the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, opposed the tariff hike, threatening to sue the NCC over the decision.
While defending the Ministry’s budgetary proposal for the 2025 fiscal year, Tijani said the tariff increase aligns with broader economic trends.
The Minister however clarified that tariffs act as a sales tax, causing a one-off price hike rather than sustained inflation.
He revealed that the federal government plans to invest N6 billion to deploy 90,000km of fibre optic cables that will increase the country’s capacity from 35,000km to 125,000km.
Tijani said apart from South Africa, Egypt and Tunisia, many African countries face significant deficits in fibre optic infrastructure.
“This is going to become a big business. We want Nigerian companies not only to lay cables within Nigeria but also to provide these services to neighbouring countries.
“We also want our people to become the employees who will execute this work. For instance, South Africa has leveraged its global businesses to achieve economic security. Nigeria must focus on similar opportunities to build a robust telecommunications infrastructure that guarantees national security,” the minsuter added.
He noted that historically, investments in telecommunications infrastructure was hitherto left to private companies, which Prioritise only areas where they can make profits.
“These companies rely on night-time satellite data to identify areas with active economic activities—indicated by the presence of lights—and invest only in those areas,” Tijani said.
He urged adequate funding of the ministry, saying it lacked the necessary resources to discharge its responsibilities effectively.
“The ministry is underfunded. Unlike the NCC, we do not have sufficient funds to track all users of telecom services or ensure timely payments. We also lack the appropriate software to perform these functions efficiently. If adequately resourced, the ministry could generate significantly more revenue,” he said.
The increase is unjustifiable, unlawful
Meanwhile the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Tuesday demanded the reversal of the recent 50% hike in telecom tariffs, issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to President Bola Tinubu.
The organisationn described the increase as “unlawful” and warned of impending legal action if the government and telecom operators fail to reverse the decision.
“The Tinubu administration and telcos must immediately reverse the unlawful increase in calls and data costs. We’ll see in court if the 50% tariff hike is not reversed within 48 hours,” the group declared.
SERAP’s ultimatum comes shortly after the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) decided to sue the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
According President of NATCOMS, Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the NCC did not consult subscribers on the matter. He kicked against the 50 per cent hike, adding that a five per cent to ten per cent marginal increase was a better option.
He said, “This will affect everyone from the biggest industry to the smallest company, such as the Point of Service (POS) operators.
“We now depend on telecoms for our meetings, for the banks, everybody depends on it, even the education sector. Yes, a lot of things depend on it.
“So, that is why we painfully agreed that look, a moderate or marginal five per cent to 10 per cent increase will be fine
“You know, we do not mind an increase if it is to salvage the industry that is helping us, which means so much to us. This is also contributing double-digits to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“So, we appreciate that. It’s painful, but we agreed. We said, Okay, we will not mind if it is just a five per cent to 10 per cent increase.”