Bill To Prohibit Unsolicited Texts & Calls Passes 2nd Reading In The House Of Rep

On Thursday, a bill to reduce incident of unsolicited telephone calls and text messages received by telecoms subscribers passed the second reading in the House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by Aliyu Madaki (Kano-APC), is aimed at providing a legal framework to stop the sending of unsolicited ringtones and text messages to subscribers, as well as prohibit online telemarketing without prior consent of a subscriber. 

Madaki disclosed that the bill, when passed into law, would empower aggrieved subscriber to seek redress before a High Court. He explained that currently, there was no legislation to address the prevalence of these unsolicited messages in the country, thereby leaving the consumers at the mercies of telephone service providers.