The House of Representatives has urged Telecom operators in the country to halt the planned withdrawal and suspension of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD services to Nigerians and other financial institutions.
This was contained in a motion unanimously adopted on the urgent need to intervene in the impasse of N40b debt between Telecom operators and banks as well as other financial institutions.
Sponsor of the motion, Dr. Ossai Nicholas Ossai, while presenting the motion stated that since October 2019 till date, there has been a dispute between Nigerian telecommunication operators and Nigerian banks over who should pay for USSD service sessions.
The lawmaker said the banks had always wanted the Telecom operators to charge customers directly but the Telecom operators insisted that the services where being offered to the banks and as such they should be the ones to pay.
Dr. Osaka explained that between the month of July and August 2020, the operators had an agreement with the ministry of communication and digital economy and the Nigerian communications commission NCC, that Nigerian banks should pay the Telecom operators for the use of the services at an agreed individual price mechanism but all efforts to resolve the dispute proved abortive and the debt kept increasing.
The lawmaker disclosed that “the Telecom operators have issued a notice threatening to withdraw and suspend the USSD services from Nigerian banks starting from Monday 15th march, 2021.
And if the USSD service is withdrawn, Nigerian Telecom users would be seriously affected”.
Contributing to the debate, the Chairman House Committee on Telecommunications, Mr. Akeem Adeyemi, described the banks’ refusal to pay the debt as unfortunate.
Adopting the motion, the House mandated it’ committee on Telecommunications to liaise with the Telecom Operators, Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Nigerian banks and other financial institutions with a view to resolving the impasse.
Nneka Ukachukwu
