By Abiola Olawale
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has taken legal action against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration regarding a recent decision to increase tariffs by 50% in favour of telecoms companies across the country.
SERAP, in the lawsuit, is challenging the decision by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to authorize telecom operators to raise tariffs.
The organisation argued that the hike is “arbitrary, unconstitutional, unlawful, unfair, and unreasonable.”
In the lawsuit, SERAP is seeking to have the court determine if this decision infringes on citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information.
They are asking for an interim injunction to prevent the implementation of the tariff hike while the case is being heard in court. This legal action is based on the contention that the tariff increase did not follow due process, lacks fairness, and could disproportionately affect economically vulnerable Nigerians.
The suit, with a number, FHC/ABJ/CS/111/2025, was filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
SERAP is also asking the court for a declaration that the unilateral decision by the NCC to authorise telcos to hike telecom tariff by 50 per cent is arbitrary, unfair, unreasonable inconsistent and incompatible with citizens’ freedom of expression and access to information and therefore unconstitutional and unlawful.
An order of interim injunction, according to SERAP, is meant to restrain NCC, its officers, agents, privies, assigns, or any other person or persons acting on its instructions from further implementing, enforcing and doing any act to giving effect to the decision of the NCC authorizing telecom tariff hike by 50 per cent.
SERAP, in the suit, argued that the legal and constitutional provisions, as well as international standards on freedom of expression and access to information, constitute the repository of legality, adding that the requirements of legality constrain the exercise of statutory powers by the NCC to authorise any increase in telecom tariffs.
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, imposes clear duties of fairness and reasonableness on the NCC in the exercise of its powers to authorize the telecom tariff hike by 50 per cent, which is the subject matter of this suit.
According to SERAP, the NCC is required under the legal provisions on consumers’ rights and constitutional and international standards on freedom of expression and access to information to base its decision on reasonable interpretations of its enabling statutes and guidelines and other relevant legal frameworks and to follow due process.
