Ripples Nigeria findings have uncovered that GSM service providers in the country defraud Nigerians to a whooping tune of about N547bn every year.
Nigeria has 149,787,120
active Global System for
Mobile communication
(GSM) lines as at November
2015 according to figures
from the Nigerian
Communications
Commission (NCC).At N50 deductible on SMS
every five days of
subscription, invariably,
Nigerians lose over N7.5
billion every five days, and
N547b yearly through such
unsolicited SMS.
This is not counting other
unsolicited SMS that attracts
N100 per week, and
unsolicited calls that also
attract separate charges.
In a move to address the
situation, the House of
Representatives during the
weekend suggested a fine of
N5million for GSM providers
involved in unsolicited calls
and text messages.
According to the lawmakers,
unsolicited text messages
are a breach to the privacy
of phone users and a
contravention of their
fundamental rights as
provided for in the
Constitution.
Sponsor of the bill, Hon. Ali
Madaki, said the Bill became
imperative, as there was no
law in the Nigerian
Communications
Commission (NCC) Act
specifically on text
messages, which makes it
possible for
telecommunications service
providers to fleece their
subscribers through such
unsolicited SMS.According to him, the
consumers are at the mercy
of the service providers, who
have taken full advantage of
the absence of such laws to
continue defrauding
Nigerians.
Equally in the bill, online
telemarketing is prohibited
without prior consent or
application by a subscriber.
However, Nicholas Ossai
(PDP, Delta) among others,
said unsolicited text
messages does not need to
stand alone as laws, as the
NCC Act has enough laws to
address the issue.
Expectedly, Speaker Yakubu
Dogara and the House
Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila
noted that privacy of
subscribers should be an
issue which the NCC Act was
silent on.The bill was unanimously
passed after it was put to a
voice vote by the Speaker,
who said opinion of experts
and stakeholders would be
required at the public
hearing stage to seek the
opinion of Nigerians about
unsolicited text messages.
While the debates continue,
service providers continue
to have a field day, smiling
to the bank with the billions
fleeced from Nigerian GSM
providers.
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