Data floor: Shittu, at Senate, explains NCC’s position

The Federal Government on Tuesday backed the planned increase in the cost of data services by telecommunications companies.

Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who  spoke on behalf of the government at a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Communications on Tuesday, said that in thinking about tariff for the sector, Nigerians must put the operating environment into consideration.

According to him, the companies operate in a harsh environment, where electricity and insecurity remain major challenges. He also said that the companies have been battling several layers of taxes.

He said that while the Nigerian naira had lost value so far, the cost of telecoms services in the country still remain the cheapest in the West African sub-region.

The minister said “It is also important to say that operators in Nigeria are operating in a very harsh situation which is not known in other advanced countries. For instance over the years, the Nigerian state has not succeeded in fixing electricity over the last 20 years.

“This industry relies on electricity and because Nigeria has failed in providing reliable electricity, it means they have to rely on extra budgetary provisions to provide electricity 24 hours, seven days of the week, which additional expenditure does not operate in other countries which we seek to copy.

“This is one challenge that we must look at. The other challenge in the area of security, a lot of infrastructure by operators are usually under attack by criminals all across the country. Indeed we know what the security situation is in the country.

“Apart from that, we also have the problem of taxes which they have always be talking about, I have always challenged operators that I want to see all the taxes so that we find a way of harmonising them.

“What I am saying is this, if Nigeria has invited international investors to come and invest in Nigeria so that our lives will be better, so that the economy will be better, so that businesses can be more conveniently made, so that even government can more conveniently run, to whom much is given, much is expected. The Nigerian state must also be in a position to provide its own share of what will make an enabling environment.”

He added, “This is one area that I believe that we all must face the reality. The government in its wisdom and I am happy the National Assembly promulgated the National Communications Act which required that there be established an NCC.

“If you look at the NCC law, it is positioned to reflect experiences, expertise and all of that and I want to believe that there must not be too many interventions in the activities of the NCC.

“I am a political office holder, I am not an expert, so I cannot venture to say whether they did wrong or right except they say that the constitution has granted them the role of a supervisor of a direct regulatory authorities particularly relating to the activities in the telecoms industry.

“The only area I feel they were deficient was in the area of communicating with the people of this country particularly because of the sensitivity that has been imposed on Nigerians by the harsh economic situation.”

At the hearing, there was however a crack among Telecoms providers as representatives of Globacom Telecommunications parted ways with other companies including MTN, Airtel and Etisalat who called for the introduction of the tarriff floor.

While Globacom said that the tariff should be left for market forces to determine, the other companies insisted on the tarriff floor as they argued that leaving it open could lead to anti-competition practices in view of rising inflation in Nigeria.