Enugu assembly seeks deterrent against telecoms for poor service delivery

The Enugu State House of Assembly on Tuesday called for urgent action against the persistent problem of dropped calls and poor telecom service delivery.

It threatened to summon telecom operators to explain why they should not refund all subscribers who lost their money through dropped calls.

This is contained in a motion sponsored by the member representing the Igbo-Eze South Constituency, Harrison Ogara, during the plenary in Enugu.

While quoting data from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr Ogara disclosed that Nigeria had over 219 million active telecom subscribers, a large population residing in Enugu.

The lawmaker regretted that despite the booming telecoms market, users continued to face repeated dropped calls, which occurred when conversations were terminated midway and oftentimes while still charging the caller’s credit.

“The last few weeks in Enugu have been tortuous for telephone users as we suffer the nauseating effects of dropped calls.

“It’s unacceptable that our people are being shortchanged and forced to pay for services not rendered. This is not just an inconvenience; it is an economic injustice.

“These telecom operators – MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile – have at various times breached these codes, especially in dropped calls, whereas our people have lost hundreds of millions of Naira to these companies without any hope of refund.

“It is even more pathetic to note that the network providers are more interested in profit and loss, increase in tariffs and do nothing about the quality of service delivery,” Mr Ogara said.

However, the House, in stepping down the motion, set up a three-man committee to harmonise the four prayers sought by the motion.

It further directed the committee to submit its report on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, for possible adoption of the motion.