FG may prosecute telecoms firms for poor services

The Federal Government has threatened to prosecute telecommunication service providers who continue to render poor quality services to subscribers after December 31, 2013.
The plan to prosecute errant telecoms operators was unfolded in Lagos on Monday at a joint news briefing addressed by the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson; Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Dupe Atoki; and Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah.
Atoki said the errant operators risked prosecution and jail terms of up to five years if ongoing investigations revealed that they had deliberately short-changed Nigerians through poor service delivery.
“The CPC can make orders in the interest and protection of consumers, and disobedience is also criminalised by law. While the NCC can impose fines on an offending operator, the CPC can, in addition, commit such recalcitrant offender to jail term for contravening any consumer protection enactment,” she explained.
Atoki said the challenge of doing business in the country was the usual justification by the service providers for the violation of consumer rights, but noted that as far as the CPC was concerned and as long as a business was in operation and consumers were paying for its service or product, the consumers must get value for their money.
“Under the Consumer Protection Council Act, the CPC has the power to sanction, prosecute and compel any product or service provider to answer a lawful inquiry, disobedience of which is criminalised,” she said.
Earlier, Johnson had said that despite the fact that her ministry had been working hard to provide an enabling environment for the deployment of Information Communication Technology infrastructure like base stations and fibre optic cables, the poor quality of service persisted.

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