The Director-General of Consumer Protection Council,
Mr Babatunde Irukera has frown at the decision of telecom operators to transfer
their operating cost to customers saying it is unacceptable.
Mr Irukera made this known at the end of the E-payment
Providers Association of Nigeria workshop in Lagos on Sunday. He stressed that
the 0.005 per cent directive imposed by Central Bank of Nigeria on all
electronic transactions is an operation cost for operators and should not be
transferred to customers.
His words, “At CPC our main focus is the customer;
that they are treated with fairness and with transparency. We are unwilling to accept
the decision of operators to transfer the cost of business to consumers. What they
provide is airtime and broadband and if they decide to make additional things
to secure consumers, it cost of business to them.”
He further stressed the need to uphold people’s
privacy, “All should be put in place to mitigate the risk of fraud but beyond
that, the risk of exposure of people’s privacy should be upheld. Electron commerce
is the present and much more the future and it should carry the responsibility
of protecting citizens.”
This is coming on the heels of NAN report on the revelation
of Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) National
President, Mr Olusola Teniola on government decision to implement section 44 of
the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, ETC) Act of 2015 which states that the
establishment of the National Cyber Security Fund will be funded by 0.005 per
cent levy charged on all electronic transactions and to be domiciled with the
Central Bank of Nigeria.
Mr Olusola Teniola notified the association to be
ready for the collection of the 0.005 per cent levy to finance the fund. In his
remark however, he said, enacting such law will affect TELCOMS, Internet
Service Providers and firms operating in the financial industry and would
amount to an overall increase in price of services rendered.
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