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FG gives NCC five days to reduce price of data

Published

November 5, 2019

The Federal Government, on Tuesday, directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to work out modalities to resolve the issues of illegal data deduction and review downwards the price of data in the country within five days.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, gave the directive when the management of NCC led by its Board Chairman, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, paid a courtesy visit to his office.

Pantami said his office has been inundated with complaints from concerned Nigerians about the high cost of data by telecoms.

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He added that he is also a victim of illegal data deductions.

The Minister said:

“I am urging the management of NCC to work towards reducing the price of data in Nigeria. It is too costly and people are complaining every day.

“If you go to other countries, even countries that are not as largely populated as Nigeria, data prices are not this high.

“I am also a victim of some of the infractions that are so common in the industry. You load your data, but you barely used 20 percent of it and the entire data is wiped off.

“The last time I commented on the issues of illegal data deduction, this is one of the issues that worries me badly today. Eng Wakil making a presentation on behalf of EVC, he tried to defend the operators on one hand and the commission on the other, but I was not fully convinced with the explanation.

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“Please go, sit down and review that issue. It is very important and I want to get your feedback with that report in the next five working days with the decision on it because the complaint from Nigerian is beyond what I can handle as it is today, people are complaining. And it happened to me I recharged my data line and used it, and I believe that what I used was not up to 20 percent of what I purchased when it was wiped off, so that is an issue that is very important.”