The Chairman Senate Committee, On Media Public Affairs, Aliyu sabi- Abdullahi, says that the Nigerian Communications Committee (NCC), did not consult key stake holders on the initial tariff hike plan, which was set to take off from December 1, 2016.
The announcement by the network providers had elicited various reactions from Nigerians and the Senate, who felt the tariff hike would be an added burden, especially with the current economic situation.
The Senate had on Wednesday, described the move as insensitive and raised a motion ordering the NCC to stop it.
Shortly after, the committee announced that it had suspended the plan.
Abdullahi believes that “although it is the responsibility of the NCC as a regulator to regulate the sector, “the law itself does not say you just wake up and do something blanket.
“There are rooms in all of this, for robust consultation and I think the laws are very clear, so when they claim they want to do something, and they’ve consulted, in most instances you have to ask, who did they consult?, he questioned.
In this case, “you can see the minister even denying that he had no fore-knowledge of it, let alone the national assembly; we were not consulted”.
Earlier the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, had said: “I was not part of the decision, I heard it like all Nigerians heard it- I am still going to investigate from NCC to know the rationale”.
The senator however explained that such burning issues would always get the attention of the senate.
According to him, the matter was not debated for too long because everybody uses data and the senators understood the implication of the tariff hike.
“If you look at the data usage, it is a very robust participation and with about 143 active telephone lines, you can imagine the rate at which people are using this data to pass information.
He then re-iterated the senate’s commitment to the welfare of citizens saying:
“The 8th senate is very very alive to its responsibility of being responsive and sensitive to the yearnings of Nigerians.
“The primary purpose of governance is the security and welfare of the citizens and so where this is threatened in any form, I think it is the duty of the National Assembly to rise up to it and see what can be done.
Mr Abdullahi then called on various institutions to discharge their duties efficiently and in accordance with laid down rules and regulations.
“Institutions are to be strengthened, they are created for a purpose but in creating these institutions, the law setting them up has made certain provisions very clear.
“It is now left for them to follow the rules of engagement with their stakeholders.
Stating the instance of the electricity tariff hike, he said the level of consultation was equally not robust.
“We want to urge all regulators, we want the investors to have confidence in your independence and autonomy to discharge your duty.
“But in discharging your duty, you are not discharging it in a vacuum, you are discharging it in an environment where there are stakeholders and that is why these stakeholders are identified in your enabling loss and the various provisions guarding your operations.
Furthermore, he stressed that they should “give the due respect and right, that the various stakeholders deserve so that when we have a consensus, a convergence, we will understand exactly what we are up to, and everybody would be in agreement.
“Under that guise, you will see things working smoothly,” the senator said.
