The House of Representatives has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria to appear before it and account for their companies’ poor services.
The House Ad hoc Committee investigating the consistent poor quality of service and poor experience in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector issued the ultimatum at a public hearing on Wednesday in Abuja.
The resolution followed the adoption of two motions by Rep. Sunday Umeha (APC-Enugu) and Rep. Afam Ogene (NDC-Anambra), after the CEOs of MTN, MAFAB Communications Ltd. and other service providers failed to honour invitations and appear before the committee.
In its resolution, the committee urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure all CEOs appeared before the committee on Oct. 28 at the National Assembly Complex.
The committee resolved that the CEOs of MTN, Glo, Airtel, Mafab, and other service providers should account for the consistent drop in service quality for Nigerians and submit all relevant documents to the committee on or before Oct. 28.
The lawmakers threatened to issue summons for the arrest of any CEO who failed to appear before them.
The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Olumide Osoba (APC-Ogun), said many critical sectors, like POS operations, also depend on telecommunications networks.
He said telecommunications services had consistently declined in recent times, which necessitated the house inaugurating the committee for a proper investigation.
The lawmaker, however, alleged that invited CEOs had continued to invade the parliamentary interface with a series of excuses and by sending lower-ranking staffers to represent them.
Rep. Ibe Osonwa (LP-Arochukwu/Ohafia) said that the network providers make a lot of money in the country but do not deem it fit to appear before the people’s parliament to account for their activities.
He said it was of bad taste for entities operating in the country to disregard parliamentary invitations to explain their activities to citizens they profit so much from.
In his ruling, the chairman urged NCC to ensure service providers comply with the committee's resolution.
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