Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communication, innovations and Digital Economy has faulted the plan by telecom operators in the country to hike their tariff.
The Minister gave the federal government position on the issue on Thursday at the launch of the Nigeria Digital Economy Report on in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The GSM operators in the country had recently made a push for increase in tariff. Their reason, they contend is that the tariff has remained the same for 11 years, adding that the current tariff is injurious to their businesses.
Their position was contained in a communiqué signed by their Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria and the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria.
Tijani who appealed to the operators to shelve their plan for a tariff hike stated that doing so at this time will harm many Nigerians who are already suffering as a result of the current economic challenges in the country.
He said the federal government is already addressing the problem in the sector, saying the “solutions to these things will not come from one single thing, which is raising the tariff.”
According to him, “We have to deepen and address so many of these things. The solutions to these things will not come from one single thing, which is raising the tariff, that’s never going to be the solution. There are tons of other things that can be done to ensure that the business environment is conducive for the investors in this phase and the government is articulating that including the tariff conversation.
“The government may intentionally put out the right messages, the right policies and the right intentions but if everything that is coming from the association on just one issue is extremely negative, investors will not come in. Investors will not help. And if we go back to my very clear point, I’ve not seen anything more in what you are demanding that is difficult.”
“It’s the approach to addressing them that I think we are not ready to do. And I’m being open about this because we must, for once, and finally, agree to address these issues positively; because they are not just affecting the companies that you represent. They are affecting the economy and the security of the nation as well.
“So we have to be extremely careful how we approach it and make sure we focus on solving it. Some of the things proposed nine months ago, if we collectively came together to address those things nine months ago, your demands would have been met. But the solution that the association is saying is only one solution. And I don’t believe anyone wants that.”
