Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) says it has taken the task of facilitating the building and equipping of emergency communications centres in 36 states of federation and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Abuja, inorder to bridge the communication gap between the distressed and emergency response agencies in the country.
Executive Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Communications Commission( NCC), Prof, Umar Garba Danbatta, disclosed this on Saturday at the NCC special day held at the ongoing 34Th Enugu International trade fair.
Riepresented by the Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Morka, the Chief Executive said that , “all Telecom operators were mandated to route emergency calls through the dedicated three digit toll free number, 112, from each state to the emergency centre, within that state.
He explained that the operators who should be residents in states where the communication centres were installed would process the distress calls and contact the response agency at the NCC headquarters whose duty it is to handle the cases.
Danbatta said that their participation at the Enugu international trade fair, provides opportunity for the Nigerian Communications Commission,NCC in the south east geo-political zone to interact with the telecomms consumers and business owners who are based in the South East geo-political zone and those who have come from different parts of the company as exhibitors to attend the event.
He described the theme of this year’s fair ,” Harnessing Nigerian Human Capital Resources for Global Economic Advancement” as apt , “especially to the ICT industry as it is a well known fact that ICT is the engine that propels human capital development globally.”
“NCC as a regulator is mindful that telecom is an enabler and catalyst for economic advancement of the country and has consistently made available, affordable and accessible telecom service to eliminate certain telecom barriers on organizational communication, enhancing efficient administration in both the public and sectors , making it easy across various structures and location and helping the evolution increasingly,”
He noted that one of the issues affecting telecommunications consumers which the commission has proffered concrete solutions to , was the issue of telemarketing ( unsolicited text message)
Danbatta said that the commission, in order to protect subscribers from the unwholesome practice, evolved a solution called, “Do not disturb”
.He said that the commission had created a toll free number 622, as a second level complaint which allows consumers to escalate unresolved issues by their service providers to the commission for effective resolution.Earlier in a welcome address, the ECCIMA president, Jasper Nduagwuike who was represented by the first Deputy President ,Sir Odega Jideonwu commended NCC for participating at the fair.
He observed that the role of the commission as a regulatory agency in the development of the telecommunication sector is worthy of note ,to ensure best practices, efficient and effective service delivery by operators in the sector.
“The NCC has contributed to the growth of the Nigerian economy He said that alot has to be done in having the courage the courage to regulate operates in the sector in doing what is right and protecting vulnerable customers of the various GSM network operating in the country.
“It is on record that the NCC special day remains one of the most crowd pulling , exciting and colourful special days during our trade fairs ,” Nduagwuike said.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama