Phone traders demand 120-day suspension of registration fees

The Association of Mobile Phones and Allied Products Traders of Nigeria (AMPAT) has urged the Federal Government to suspend the newly introduced mobile phone registration fees for 120 days to allow consultations with stakeholders in the industry.

The association also called on the government to ensure transparency in implementing the policy, insisting that traders must be consulted before new regulatory measures affecting their businesses are enforced.

AMPAT National Chairman, Alhaji Sani Tasiu Ibrahim, made the appeal while addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Kano.

“Engage the stakeholders first. Consultation must come before implementation, not after. You cannot impose first and explain later,” the association said.

AMPAT urged the government to suspend the fees, phone-blocking measures and threatening messages associated with the policy for 120 days to allow meaningful discussions between the authorities and industry stakeholders.

“Give us 120 days. Stop the fees, stop the blocking, stop the threatening messages for 120 days while we sit down and sort this out together,” it said.

The association also called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to provide the legal backing for the charges and publicly disclose the applicable rules and fee schedule.

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“Show us the law. The NCC must follow the law, especially the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Publish the rules and the fee schedule. If the fee is lawful, show us where it is written,” AMPAT stated.

According to the association, traders are being required to pay about N670 for each small phone imported into the country and nearly N4,000 for larger devices.

It expressed concern that the charges could significantly increase the cost of affordable mobile phones, particularly for low-income Nigerians.

“A phone we sell for N10,000 — the phone a poor man buys for his son going to secondary school — carries a fee of almost N4,000 before it even enters the market,” the association said.

AMPAT also questioned how the revenue generated from the charges was being used, alleging that the money was being paid to a private company without adequate disclosure of the company’s identity or the legal basis for the arrangement.

“Where is that money going? To a private company. Which company? Nobody knows. Under what law? Nobody has seen it. We have asked. They have not shown us,” it added.

The association warned that the policy, if implemented without addressing traders’ concerns, could threaten jobs and livelihoods across the country’s mobile phone retail and distribution sector.

It said its members contribute billions of naira to the Nigerian economy annually through customs duties, taxes and other business transactions.

According to AMPAT, its members have invested billions of naira in shops, warehouses, vehicles and supply chains serving markets across the country.

The association added that the industry provides employment for millions of young Nigerians, including sales assistants, technicians, phone repairers, loaders, drivers and apprentices.

It warned that increased operating costs could force businesses to close, undermine apprenticeship programmes and leave many young people without sources of income.

“If this policy is implemented as it is, it is those millions of youths — our young people, our apprentices, our boys and girls who have just learnt a trade and opened their first small shop who will lose their jobs,” it said.

“The shops will close. The workshops will go quiet. The apprenticeship that has lifted generations of our young people out of poverty will be broken.”

However, AMPAT clarified that it supports mobile phone registration, noting that the exercise could help eliminate counterfeit devices and make stolen phones unusable.

The association also expressed support for measures aimed at preventing criminals from exploiting mobile phone networks and markets.

“We support the registration of phones. We want fake phones out of this country. We want stolen phones to become useless. We want criminals to have nowhere to hide. Any trader who tells you otherwise is not speaking for us,” the association said.

AMPAT maintained that its opposition was not to phone registration itself but to the implementation of the policy without adequate consultation, transparency and clarification of the legal basis for the charges.