Rights group to picket telcos, pay TV operators over poor services

Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ), a civil rights organisation, has expressed its readiness to picket and disrupt business activities in telecoms and pay television service providing companies in the country.

The group has already sent a petition to the National Assembly in this regard, asking it to act in the interest of the Nigerian masses.

The petition dated Monday 18th of December, 2017 was addressed to Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Senate President, and Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the House of Representatives.

It was copied to President Muhammadu Buhari and Mr. Adebayo Shittu, minister of Communications.

Also copied include the Chairmen of both the Senate and House Committees on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition, the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS).

CHRSJ specifically listed companies to be affected to include MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile and Glo while the affected pay television to include Strong TV, DSTv, Startimes and GOTV.

It accused the companies of extorting Nigerians via provision of poor services and high fees, saying the trend would come to an end after the expiration of an ultimatum it gave for the companies to change their operational mode.

Comrade Adeniyi A. Sulaiman, executive chairman of CHRSJ, said that the organisation had in December 2017 written the affected companies, telling them that they risk having their operations disrupted should they continue to milk the Nigerian people via poor and exorbitant fees.

CHRSJ also flayed telecoms operators for habitually failing to redeem promo offers to their customers who are usually ripped off as some of the claims are bogus and never enjoyed by the people.

In the statement, the group stated that apart from the petition, its members are expected to stage series of rallies and protest marches across the country with a view to sensitizing the public on the need to preserve and secure their rights for quality service.

Sulaiman added: “We have written and fine tuned our petitions to the National Assembly, the Presidency the ministers responsible for supervising the activities of these companies and organisations.

“After that, we have mobilised our members to be on standby as we will also stage peaceful rallies in the premises of the affected ministries, which would last for a year terminating on October 1st, 2019 based on our engagement diary and timetable.

“We are also engaging the National Assembly with a view to ensure that they do the needful by siding with the masses of Nigeria in this struggle and that they must respect and act on the petitions that we have written to them.”

Sulaiman listed some of the grouse of his group to include unsolicited messaging, over billing for terminated calls from telecom services as some of the ways they have been fleecing Nigerians, saying the situation would no longer be condoned.

For Ikeja Electric, Sulaiman accused the company of unduly fleecing the people through bogus and phony estimated billing system, which he said has left many people poor, saying the company should commence aggressive metering drive of its customers otherwise it would incur its wrath.

He listed participating group that would participate at the planned protest marches and rallies to include the following; Apata Ayeraye Socio-political Volunteer Group, De Mainstream Independent Campaign Group and we, the facilitator, the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice.

Others include Centre for Constitutional Rights and Counter-Corruption Crusade, the Conscience Mainstream, African Masses Voices for Survival, The Christian Youth for the Peoples Rights and Development.

Sulaiman also listed the Coalition Against Illegal Arrest and Unlawful Detention, Islamic Movement for Muslim Rights, Veteran Group for Operation Clean Crusade, Divine Nigerians Liberators for Peoples Fundamental Rights.

Others are Passengers Fundamental Rights Group in Africa, The Christian Volunteer Group for Good Governance in Nigeria, The Islamic Political Awareness Group, the Christian Awareness Mission Group and Centre for Socio Justice and Equity.

“We are urging these companies to desist from their illegal and unlawful activities of milking the people of this country. We will not relent in our efforts at ensuring that we make them do the right thing by utilising all legal and lawful means to send them out of the country should they continue in their evil ways of subjecting the people to poverty and misery.” Sulaiman concluded in the statement.