Nigeria’s telecom operators sue federal lawmakers over service-quality probe

Nigeria's major telecom operators, including ALTON, MTN Nigeria, Airtel Networks, and Globacom, have filed a lawsuit against the House of Representatives, contesting its constitutional authority to investigate their network quality and compel their executives to testify in front of lawmakers. The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) filed the suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 4, 2026, seeking clarification on Sections 88 and 89 of the Nigerian Constitution, which delineate the National Assembly's investigative powers.

The core of the dispute lies in whether lawmakers can employ these powers to compel private telecom operators to disclose information on network quality, or if such an investigation oversteps constitutional boundaries and infringes upon the regulatory mandate of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The outcome of this legal battle could potentially determine the extent of parliamentary oversight over private companies in a highly regulated sector and clarify where the National Assembly's authority ends and the NCC's begins.