Lawyer: National Assembly Lacks Power To Regulate Telecom Operators

A lawyer, Sesan Bankole, has said the National Assembly lacks the power to regulate telecommunications operators or impose sanctions on them, arguing that such responsibilities rest with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Bankole’s position comes amid a fresh confrontation between the House of Representatives and telecommunications operators over poor network quality, following the lawmakers’ threat to issue arrest summons against the chief executives of major telecom companies who failed to appear personally before a committee investigating service delivery.

The committee subsequently gave the chief executives and other senior management officials until November 4, 2026, to appear, warning that failure to comply could result in arrest.

OUR Correspondent reports that the House of Representatives on Wednesday threatened to issue warrants of arrest against chief executives of telecommunications companies who fail to appear before its ad hoc committee investigating persistent poor network services.

Reacting to the development in a statement he signed on Thursday, Bankole said the National Assembly could invite telecommunications operators to provide information in the public interest but must operate within the limits prescribed by the Constitution.

He said Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution empowers the National Assembly to conduct investigations for the purpose of making or amending laws and examining the conduct of authorities responsible for administering funds appropriated by the legislature.

According to him, the provision does not confer general regulatory powers on lawmakers over privately owned telecommunications companies.

“Any investigation that goes beyond making laws or exposing corruption in the management of budgeted public funds is invalid,” Bankole said.

He added, “And they can’t regulate or impose fine; that is the work of the regulator, which is the NCC.”

The lawyer cited the case of Senate of the National Assembly v. Tony Momoh (1981), arguing that legislative investigations must be tied to constitutionally permitted purposes.

Bankole also questioned the committee’s insistence that the chief executives must appear personally, maintaining that companies could appoint authorised representatives to speak on their behalf.

“By the Companies and Allied Matters Act, a telecom is a legal entity that can be represented by any such person appointed by the legal entity,” he said.

He further described the summons as sub judice, arguing that a related lawsuit instituted by ALTON in 2018 remained pending before the courts.

The suit reportedly challenges repeated legislative summonses of telecommunications executives over matters the association considers to fall within the NCC’s regulatory jurisdiction.