THE SIMPLEST DEFINITION OF DEREGULATION TO A LAYMAN

So many people got their SIM cards for a whooping sum of N25,000 in year 2000 when telecom operators birthed in Nigeria for the very first time. I actually got mine later for N15,000 during one of MTN’s promo sales in 2001 or 2002 after hard labour work on construction sites with my father who happens to be a builder. Even after buying the sim card it took me another episode of labour to buy my first fairly used phone to enjoy the MTN service. I would not want to bother you with the story of how I recharge my phone thereafter because network in my school then was like looking for SALVATION. For those of us who can afford NITEL cards, we were able to make calls after queuing up for hours in the old compound of NITEL office where only two phone box is available for use by the lecturers, students, civil-servants and indigenes of the town called ILARO.

Fast forward to this day, virtually all the sim cards are sold for FREE in the market and they even come with FREE airtimes and other combo packages. How was this feat achieved if not for the deregulation of those Telecom sectors that was once accessible and enjoyed by the privileged few in the society. I could also recollect vividly, an aunt I lived with at Omole estate phase 1 was using CELLULAR phone at the time and it was like a tall dream for me owning such gadget but today I have bought phones worth more than MINIMUM WAGE so many a time. The crash in tariffs of telecom service providers actually started with GLO network owned by Mike Adenuga, GLO opened our eyes to many infractions from MTN, ECONET and other telecom service providers

, they made us realized that call rate could be billed per SECONDS, oops!. They also made us realized that SIM Cards could be sold for lesser price because it is still their property, also calls/sms within the same network was further slashed and there were better and improved customer service giving rise to CALL CENTERS job openings here and there. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the arrival of ETISALAT network provider whose presence made me to love them till today, they accord us the opportunity to earn rewards upon rewards from recharging your lines, earn rewards from making calls, and earn rewards from referrals and many other goody bags.

The latest DEREGULATION effects happens to be in the area of DATA service, as data junkie myself, I have been looking forward to a day when the prices of the data bundles of different telecom operators in Nigeria would eventually crash just like call tarrifs and the D-DAY has finally arrived. It started with Glo, thereafter MTN joined and subsequently Etisalat followed suit by joining the league of those offering 1.5GB data at N1000. Other plans have been reviewed as well making 3.5gb data now to cost

N2000. And just when I thought Airtel would not be able to catch up with the deregulation jinx because they seems to be the most inconsistent amongst the successful ones, they suddenly came up with their own price crashing and it goes thus:

Airtel reviewed data plans

Android 1.0 is now 1k for 1.5gb, valid for 30days *496#

Android 2.0 is now 2k for 3.5gb, valid for 30days *437#

Easy bundle 500 for 750mb, valid for 14days *418#

Daily 100 for 30mb, valid for a day *410#.

This is the ripple effects of DEREGULATION in any given economy, however, for deregulation to take full effects, Government must put in place proper infrastructure to cushion the effects of such policy by properly education the masses and possibly offer palliatives such that the pain is bearable and shared by all irrespective of class or income level because there is no GAIN WITHOUT PAIN. I believed in deregulation as an economic tool that can bring the desired level of support and sustenance for a consuming economy such as Nigeria but the government needs to feel the pulse of the nation before taking sudden and drastic actions in areas where the masses are at the receiving end of the continuum.  If the government can block leakages, plug loopholes and monitor the activities of the independent oil marketers, Nigeria will soon be buying petrol for less than N100 in the not too far distant future.

According to Martins, Deregulation of the downstream sector will further reduces economic waste and lightens social burdens caused by government control. For several years Nigeria experienced scarcity of petroleum products that crippled national economic activities and increased the cost of doing business, several. The resulting scarcity   inevitably leads to a flooding of the market with adulterated products, which usually leads to the damage of vehicle and machines. Several occasion, and in many part of the country particularly outside of the big cities   and towns, a majority of Nigeria have been forced to buy petroleum products at   300% higher than their original price .

 Deregulation will help this price scalping and a host of associated problem related to the   sector. Deregulation of the petroleum down stream sector  promises  to be  the   way forward  in expanding opportunities  for  economic growth and a competitive down stream oil sector if regulation in  the downstream sector is limited to oversight and supervisory functions, aimed  at guaranteeing   quality of products and preventing consumers exploitation  then the process of deregulation could help achieving greater cost –effectiveness.

God bless Nigeria

God Bless President Muhammad Buhari.