By Peregba Jerry
The House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications in Nigeria has vowed to provide necessary parliamentary interventions and support to address the issues and challenges facing the country’s telecom industry.
The committee chairman, Peter Akpatason, made the pledge when he received leadership and members of the National Executive Council of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) that paid him a courtesy visit in his office on Friday.
He acknowledged ATCON’s vital role in contributing significantly to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP), which he said was crucial to the country’s economy. He added that its role as the umbrella body of all telecom service providers helped contribute about 18 per cent to the country’s GDP.
He emphasised the need for collaboration between the legislature and the private sector as key drivers for growth while promising deeper working relationships with regulators and stakeholders through organising a legislative-regulator-stakeholders’ forum.
Akpatason stressed the importance of collaboration and synergy between the legislature and the private sector to drive growth, innovation and prosperity.
In his remarks during the visit, the leader of the delegation, Tony Emoekpere, called on the committee to provide a legislative framework and work plan that would pave the way for others in the sector to key into industry growth to boost Nigeria’s economy.
Recall that commercial banks’ unremitted N120 billion Unstructured Supplementary Service Data service debt to telecom operators had affected the sector negatively.
In October, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, threatened to withdraw USSD services from banks over unremitted debt.
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