The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has the disclosed that it will partner with regulators and consumer rights advocacy groups to ensure telecoms consumers get the best value for their money.
The Chief Executive Officer CEO), Prof. Umar Danbatta, who spoke during a virtual meeting to tackle consumer-related issues in the telecom at the second quarter meeting of Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) at the Commission’s Head Office in Abuja, said the Commission will expand the sphere of consumer education through timely, accurate and adequate information sharing to enhance the level of education of the average telecom consumer.
Represented by the Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), Efosa Idehen, the CEO said the Commission is working to ensure continuous and informed conversations among stakeholders in the industry on matters, particularly as it affects consumers, who are the lifeblood of the sector.
“The just-concluded virtual meeting of ICAF speaks to NCC’s commitment to give full expression to the metaphorical saying: ‘thinking beyond the box’, to get the work done in the face of challenging circumstances, such as the restrictions resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19. We are, therefore, committed to partner ICAF and other stakeholders in the telecom industry to stimulate value-adding conversations that will generate ideas to sustain and advance the relevance of telecommunication as a critical enabler of digital economy,” Danbatta said.
As a demonstration of NCC’s readiness to work harmoniously with other stakeholders in the industry, it in collaboration with ICAF is finalising the production of Telecom Consumer Handbook, in order to deepen consumer education about telecom products and services.
The management of NCC was particularly pleased that issues affecting a broad spectrum of people featured prominently at the meeting and promised that such matters will continue to be on the priority list of the Commission. The ‘differently-abled’ people are those hitherto referred to as ‘the physically-challenged’. A representative of the group said the United Nations had passed a resolution that the persons in that category be addressed as “Differently-Abled People”.
The ICAF also requested telecom consumer rights advocacy groups to enhance their activities and programmes on telecom consumer information and education; and to be involved, in synergy with the Commission, to increase sensitisation on infrastructure protection. While the meeting commended the attention the issue of telecom infrastructure protection has received from the Federal Government, it also called on the Commission to sustain the administrative advocacy on obtaining Executive Order, as well as the legislative process to ensure the passage of the Critical National Infrastructure Protection Bill by the National Assembly.