Sherif oyewole
27 January, 2025,
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain the federal government from implementing the 50 per cent telecom tariff hike approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCC recently approved a 50 percent increase in telecom tariffs. As a result, the average cost of calls will rise from N11 to N16.5 per minute, the price of 1GB of data will increase from N287.25, to N431.5 and SMS rates will go up from N4 to N6.
SERAP, in the suit that has yet to be assigned to a judge, is seeking a declaration that the NCC’s decision to increase telecom tariffs by 50 percent is arbitrary, unfair, unreasonable, and incompatible with citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information, and therefore unconstitutional and unlawful.
The organisation is also asking the court to determine whether the NCC’s unilateral decision to authorise the telecom tariff hike is arbitrary, unconstitutional, unlawful, unfair, unreasonable, and inconsistent with citizens’ freedom of expression and access to information.
SERAP is also praying to the court for an interim injunction restraining the NCC and its officers, agents, and other individuals from implementing, enforcing, or taking any action to effectuate the NCC’s decision to hike telecom tariffs by 50 percent.
The applicant maintained that the NCC must base its decision on reasonable interpretations of its enabling statutes, guidelines, and other relevant legal frameworks and follow due process in safeguarding consumers’ rights
