By Sabastine Gabriel
The Enugu State House of Assembly has taken steps to address the issue of dropped calls and customer dissatisfaction with telecom operators in the state.
During a plenary session on Tuesday, member representing Igbo-Eze South Constituency, Hon. Harrison Ogara raised concerns over the impact of poor telecom services, which he believes are financially harming consumers who pay for unreliable services.
Ogara highlighted that with over 219 million Nigerians subscribing to telecom services, the residents of Enugu State have been particularly affected by the erratic performance of these providers, leading to significant financial losses.
He proposed that the telecom operators, MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9 Mobile be summoned to provide explanations on how they plan to reimburse customers affected by dropped calls.
In addition to refunds, Ogara requested that the telecom companies present accurate subscriber data and evidence of their tax compliance with the Enugu State Government.
He urged the establishment of a committee that includes state officials to investigate the financial losses incurred by residents due to telecom inefficiencies, making the findings public and ensuring that refunds are issued where due.
“Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I rise draw your attention to the current epileptic services of the telecoms services providers in Enugu State which has resulted to huge loss of funds by our citizens. Not minding being a late entrant in the global system for mobile (GSM) market, Nigeria has obviously out paced many countries across when we take into consideration the market size and telephone usage.
“It is quite absurd and preposterous that even with the rapid growth of the sector and it’s consequential growth in consumer size, users of telecom services in Enugu State have continued to groan under the scorching pressure of abysmal performance in services,” he lamented.
Other assembly members echoed Ogara’s motion, expressing frustration over the operators’ poor service and high tariffs, comparing the situation to problematic billing practices seen in other utility sectors.
The member representing Nsukka West, Hon. Malachy Onyechi likened the telecome operators to EEDC that give consumers exorbitant estimated billing without rendering commensurate services.
On his part, while supporting the motion, Hon. Clifford One, representing Igbo-Eze North 2, said that the activities of telecom operators are like the banking services where one is debited yet transaction does not go through.
Earlier the House of Assembly passed into law the Enugu State Land Use Charge Second Amendment, House Bill 6, 2025 presented by Hon. Iloabuchi Aniagu, member representing Nkanu West Constituency into law.
To give room for accelerated passage of the bill, the Enugu State House of Assembly suspended Order 14, Rule 102 sub section 1 of the House Standing Order.
