LAGOS: Maurice Abidain is angry. He slams his cup to the table as he tosses his mobile phone into his bag. His frustration is part of an overall rise in anger from citizens alike as the government introduced new telecom tariffs recently, pushing costs up for average citizens. “It is really frustrating because I am spending more money daily on calls and service is not improving at the same pace,” Abidain, a owner of a small telecom start-up that hopes to introduce new cloud computing technology in Lagos, told Bikyamasr.com. “I just wish the costs would move at the same pace as services and technology.” Accorss the country, customers were outspoken against moves by the government to increase the costs of making calls, which the government claims is part of their removing subsidies. Subscribers under the National Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS) announced they would resist the new costs and would protest any attempt to increase the costs, but it could be too late. The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has already said that subscribers should expect to pay more for telecommunications services. ALTON said it was part of an overall economic plan to remove subsidies. Last week, the removal of fuel subsidies in the country sparked massive protests and led to the death of at least one person in the violence. Abidain argued that if Nigeria wants to increase its economic revenue they should be taxing the larger corporations and not the people. “Why is it that when the government wants to boost its money they turn against the people and force us to pay more,” he continued. “I have been trying to get this new company off the ground and move technology forward here in Nigeria, but now it will be more difficult because our basic costs are rising.” ALTON chairman Gbenga Adebayo said in a published statement that the telecommunications industry would be “seriously” affected by the removal of subsidies. Nigerians are not convinced. Businessmen and woman have called on the national government to rethink the removal of subsidies at once, saying it will put too much pressure on individuals too quickly. “What are we supposed to do now that we are going to have to pay more for calls and even gas? It is really going to make us suffer,” Georgia Gbheho, a former call center manager in Ghana, told Bikyamasr.com. “Companies will lose money and so will the people. It won't be good for the economy.” But Adebayo disagrees, arguing that the “reason being that even though the core of our power is generated by the use of diesel, all other support services are dependent on the PMS. “Therefore, with the increase in the cost of PMS, it is foreseen that it will also affect the cost of doing business, meaning that it will affect the cost of network operations as well,” he added. For the everday citizen, which continues to struggle for living expenses, the removal of subsidies will increase anger toward the government, which they argue is not looking out for the average Nigerian. Abidain pointed to statements made in December by government officials, who said Nigeria's economy would increase dramatically in the coming years in the hopes of pushing the country into the upper echelons of the global economic community by the end of the decade. “Are they going to do this without the people? Look at my phone, no service and yet when the signal comes back I will have to pay more than I did a few days ago. That is not fair. It isn't like we are making more money to be able to survive these hikes,” he said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/6z6qY Tags: Nigeria, Prices, Taxes, Telecom Section: Business, Latest News, Tech, West Africa
