The Nigerian Senate has ordered an investigation into alleged arbitrary airtime deductions by telecommunications operators for failed, dropped and prematurely terminated calls, giving its Committee on Communications four weeks to establish the financial losses suffered by subscribers.

The resolution was adopted during Wednesday’s plenary following a motion on consumer protection in the telecommunications sector, which highlighted persistent complaints about subscribers losing airtime despite poor or unsuccessful call connections.

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The motion was sponsored by the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, and presented by the Deputy Senate Leader. Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North, seconded it, describing the problem as one affecting virtually every telecommunications subscriber.

Nwoko said the investigation was necessary to protect Nigerians from avoidable financial losses caused by poor service delivery.

“This is a well-thought-out motion. It is very straightforward. It is all about consumer protection. We need to make this particular motion at this critical time because a lot of the time, everybody is involved in the use of calls, making calls across the country, and we all experience the same technical issues,” he said.

During consideration of the motion, the Deputy Minority Leader proposed that the Senate adopt only the sixth prayer, arguing that it sufficiently covered the issues raised in the preceding proposals.

The amendment, seconded by Senator Benios Yaro of Adamawa South, was adopted through a voice vote presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Reading the resolution, Akpabio said the Committee on Communications, chaired by Senator Bill Bills, had been directed to invite the Nigerian Communications Commission and relevant telecommunications operators to investigate complaints involving failed calls, dropped calls, unterminated calls and inflated charges.

The committee is expected to determine the financial losses incurred by subscribers and submit its findings, alongside recommendations for legislative and regulatory action, within four weeks.

The investigation will cover the billing practices of MTN Nigeria, Globacom, Airtel and T2 Mobile.

It will also examine proposals for an accessible complaints and redress system, automatic refunds for verifiably failed calls, independent technical audits of billing systems and stricter enforcement of quality-of-service standards.

Akpabio urged the committee to begin work immediately, warning that the Senate could take over the investigation as a Committee of the Whole if its report failed to meet expectations within the stipulated period.

“I think we should; we have given them a timeline of four weeks. Four weeks is too long, but we can allow it. If in four weeks they don’t satisfy us, then we have to take it as a Committee of the Whole and invite all the operators, in addition to the Minister overseeing the NCC and also the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, to ask these pertinent questions,” he said.

The Senate President said complaints about airtime losses could no longer be ignored, stressing that lawmakers had a responsibility to address avoidable financial losses suffered by telecommunications consumers.

“The public is complaining, and our job here is to make sure that we tackle the concerns of the Nigerian public and also the losses they suffer that are actually avoidable,” he added.

Akpabio also raised concerns about the adequacy of regulatory supervision in the sector, saying the investigation should establish whether existing rules were being properly enforced.

The probe is expected to determine whether the disputed deductions result from technical network failures, deficiencies in operators’ billing systems or gaps in regulatory oversight.

It will also examine whether operators have complied with existing requirements on billing transparency and quality of service.

The complaints have raised questions about the fairness of charging subscribers for calls that fail to connect, disconnect shortly after connection or are interrupted by network problems.

The committee’s findings are expected to guide possible measures to strengthen consumer protection, improve complaint resolution and secure refunds where wrongful deductions are established.

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If the committee fails to submit a satisfactory report within four weeks, the Senate President has indicated that lawmakers may summon the operators, the NCC’s leadership and the supervising minister for a wider legislative inquiry.