Reps raise alarm over massive loss of revenue, jobs in private telecommunication companies

THE House Committee on Telecommunications has raised the alarm over massive loss of revenue and jobs in some private telecommunication companies in the recent time and vowed to halt the ugly trend in the overall interest of the country.

The Committee Chaired by the Hon Saheed Akinade-Fijabi while raising the alarm at the weekend during the on-going investigation on the allegations of breach of local content and labour laws by some Telecommunication companies in the Country vowed that the National Assembly as a responsible Institution would not hesitate to impose heavy sanction on any company found wanting according to the laws of the land at the end of the investigation.

This came just as the Federal Government and the Nigeria Communications Commission disclosed that a full scale investigation into the allegations was already in progress ‎with a Ministerial Committee headed by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Communications already set up by the Communications Minister, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu.

The Committee directed the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to as a matter of urgency to procure the necessary technologies to put a stop to mask calls, saying that a situation where international calls coming into the country would appear with Nigeria numbers with a view to defrauding the country of huge revenue would no longer be tolerated

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Akinade-Fijabi stated that if the was the need, the NCC should engaged professionals to unravel the actual amount the country has been losing in terms of revue with a view to recovering such and sanctioned the culprits accordingly.

According to him, “We may understand the challenges the NCC may be facing as an organisation but all these sharp practices must stop, as a responsible committee representing the people of Nigeria, we will not fold our hands here and be seeing our people being cheated just like that, the call drops, unsolicited messages and unnecessary charges as well as loss of jobs by Nigerians who are being replaced by foreigners must stopped forthwith.

“Nigeria is not a lawless country, the telecommunication companies must follow and obey the laws of the land in carrying out their businesses or be ready to face the music through heavy sanctions, a call coming from abroad will come out with a Nigeria number, this cannot happen in other countries of the world, Nigeria is losing heavy revenue towards this direction, these companies are doing this to evade taxes.

“As a committee, we will go all out, investigate and unmask those engaging in these illegal acts and punished them accordingly so as to serve as deterrents to others in the industry ‎, we can no longer tolerate abuse expatriate quota, laying off of Nigerians employees and replacing them with foreigners, evasion of taxes due to Nigeria as a country and other sharp practices going on in the industry.

Speaking before the committee, the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu ‎stated that he was very shocked when he resumed office as the minister with what he saw going on in the sector which made him to seek for Presidential approval to recover parts of huge revenue lost which was given but later halted.

The minister who lamented that if the approval had not been halted by the presidency, a lot would have been achieved by now,‎ however said that he had set up a ministerial committee on the various allegations leveled against the telecommunications companies with a view to arresting the trend and make them to operate according to the laws of the land.

On his own, the NCC boss, Professor Garba Danbata assured the committee that the commission would do everything within its power to restore sanity and as well ensure that consumers ‎get value for their money as it is in other countries of the world.