April 06, (THEWILL) – Following what it called poor utilisation of the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the communication agency.
The lawmakers said they resolved to investigate the funds due to the non-provision of mobile telecommunication services to underserved areas despite millions of dollars spent.
This newspaper gathered that from reports that the resolution followed a motion moved by Sergius Ogun (PDP, Edo) on Thursday during plenary.
Mr Ogun had in the motion explained that NCC charges telecom operators 2.5 per cent of their turnover as licensing fees, of which 40 per cent of the licensing fees is transferred to the designated fund called USPF.
He noted that USPF is designed to encourage the “installation of network facilities and the provision of network services to institutions in the unserved and underserved areas of the country.”
Mr Ogun said despite the USPF, “most of the mobile telecommunication network operators are reluctant to move to the rural areas owing to the business considerations.
“The first major infrastructure project attempted by the NCC in this regard was the Emergency Response System (ERS), which led to the construction of Emergency Communications Centres all over the country, with little or no results, despite the fact that the contract was awarded in millions of US dollars with annual fiscal appropriations for the said project.”
Consequently, the House set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the accruals into the fund and its utilisation by the NCC since its inception.
The ad hoc committee is chaired by Bamidele Salam (PDP, Osun) with the mandate to report to the House within four weeks.
It is believed that NCC will react timely to the development as its public affairs unit is adjudged alive to its responsibilities.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
