The speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has charged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to be proactive in delivering quality telecommunications services to Nigerians.
Mr Gbajabiamila, who advised at a public hearing in Abuja, said that the house was concerned that some areas in the country have no access to mobile telecommunication services.
The house ad hoc committee organised the hearing investigating why the NCC failed to promote widespread availability and usage of mobile telecommunication services nationwide.
The committee is also investigating the total accruals into the Universal Service Provision Fund and its expenditures since its inception.
He said though Nigeria’s telecommunications sector was one of the largest in Africa, contributing immensely to the economy and lives of millions of Nigerians, most rural communities have no access to it.
“The NCC, as the regulator, needs to ensure proactiveness in ensuring the telecommunication operators offer qualitative and efficient services, and each part of the country enjoys access to telecommunications which is necessary in today’s world, to be at par with developed nations,” he said.
Mr Gbajabiamila said that the committee was constituted to probe the level of service delivery in the telecommunication sector.
He said that NCC and other operators in the sector needed to live up to expectations in ensuring efficient and qualitative service delivery to all Nigerians and not to some specific areas.
Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Bamidele Salam (PDP-Osun), said that the hearing was to investigate why mobile telecommunications coverage was not total as envisaged by the NCC Act.
He said that the parliament was also interested in the steps so far taken by the regulators to bridge the access gap, especially to underserved and unserved areas.
“By the resolution of the house, the major stakeholders in this industry have been contacted and invited to come and make presentations in this hearing.
“We are hopeful that at the end of the three days set aside for this purpose, we will reach the committee’s main purpose,” he said.
Mr Salam said the house would find solutions to all bureaucratic bottlenecks which may have made it impossible to achieve the desired target.
He also assured that the committee would thoroughly follow its mandate and submit the report promptly.
(NAN)
