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N’Assembly lacks power to regulate telecom operators — Lawyer
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.
PUNCH Online 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.
Lawyer and public policy commentator Ilemona Onoja has also questioned the constitutional basis of the summons, arguing that privately owned telecommunications companies do not automatically fall within the National Assembly’s investigative powers simply because their services affect the public.
In a published commentary, Onoja cited Senate of the National Assembly v. Tony Momoh and the 2023 Court of Appeal decision in SPDC v. Speaker of the House of Representatives to support his argument that legislative summonses must be connected to a constitutionally permitted purpose.
While acknowledging public concerns over poor telecommunications services, Onoja questioned whether summoning company executives was the appropriate way to address the problem.
He also argued that the pending ALTON litigation raised concerns about the latest action, describing the matter as sub judice.
Rather than concentrating on hearings, Onoja urged lawmakers to address structural challenges affecting telecommunications investment and network expansion.
He identified fibre-optic cable vandalism, multiple taxation and inconsistent right-of-way charges imposed by different levels of government as some of the obstacles increasing operators’ infrastructure costs.
According to him, the National Assembly could improve service delivery by enacting stiffer penalties for fibre-optic cable vandalism, harmonising right-of-way charges and addressing multiple taxation.
The measures, he argued, would reduce the cost of deploying telecommunications infrastructure and create better conditions for network expansion.
The House committee, however, has maintained that each telecommunications operator holds an individual licence and should be prepared to account for its own service delivery.
The lawmakers’ intervention follows persistent complaints about dropped calls, slow internet speeds and inadequate network coverage, which continue to affect businesses and everyday communication.
Telecommunications operators are licensed and regulated by the NCC under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, which establishes the framework for industry regulation and enforcement of applicable quality-of-service requirements.
The dispute raises questions about the boundaries between legislative oversight and regulatory authority, particularly the extent to which lawmakers can summon private companies to account for services provided under licences issued by an independent regulator.
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