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President Bola Tinubu is the target of a lawsuit brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, or SERAP, over the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) alleged “arbitrary, unconstitutional, unlawful, unfair, and unreasonable 50 percent telecom tariff hike.”

The NCC, which just authorized a 50% increase in telecom rates, is also a defendant in the lawsuit.

The increase will raise the average cost of calls from N11 to N16.5 per minute, the cost of 1GB of data from N287.5/GB to N431.25, and the cost of SMS from N4 to N6.

The suit, with number, FHC/ABJ/CS/111/2025, was filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether the unilateral decision by the NCC to authorise telcos to hike telecom tariffs by 50 percent is not arbitrary, unconstitutional, unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and inconsistent with citizens’ freedom of expression and access to information”.

Additionally, SERAP is requesting that the court rule that the NCC’s unilateral decision to permit telecom companies to raise rates by 50% is unlawful and unconstitutional because it is arbitrary, unfair, unreasonable, inconsistent, and incompatible with citizens’ freedom of expression and access to information.

According to SERAP, an order of interim injunction is being sought to prevent the NCC, its officers, agents, privies, assigns, or any other person or people acting on its directives from carrying out, enforcing, or taking any other action that would give effect to the NCC’s decision authorizing a fifty percent increase in telecom tariffs.

In the lawsuit, SERAP claimed that the NCC’s statutory authority to approve any increase in telecom rates is limited by legality requirements, which are derived from international norms on freedom of expression and information access as well as legal and constitutional provisions.

The lawsuit, which was brought on behalf of SERAP by its attorney, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, places explicit obligations on the NCC to be fair and reasonable while using its authority to approve the 50% increase in telephone tariffs.

Due process must be followed, and the NCC must base its decision on reasonable interpretations of its enabling statutes and guidelines as well as other pertinent legal frameworks, as required by the legal provisions on consumers’ rights, the constitution, and international standards on freedom of expression and access to information.

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