Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice president of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has reiterated the organizations commitment to protecting the interest of consumers and stakeholders in telecom ecosystem on World Consumer Rights Day, WCRD.

In stating NCC’s global vision for a satisfied consumer, Danbatta highlighted some of the initiatives of the commission.

He recalled that the commission declared 2017 as Year of the Telecom Consumer, in recognition of the central place the consumer occupies in the telecom ecosystem and in the emergent digital economy. The same year, the World Consumer Rights Day focused on “Better Digital World”.

“The objective of the regulation is to manage e-waste; promote reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery; improve environmental management system of operators in the telecom industry; and reduce greenhouse emissions as well as enhance sustainable development efforts.”

He said that NCC collaborated with other relevant government agencies to inaugurate a committee to implement Mobile Devices Management Systems, DMS. This initiative, according to him was designed as a Public-Private Partnership aimed at combating the proliferation of fake, counterfeit, substandard and cloned communication devices in the telecommunications industry.  With the expected result being that, only genuine materials malleable to enduring usage are available for consumer use.

The commission also implemented a strict type-approval process that ensures all equipment used in the telecommunications industry are of a suitable standard, both for the good of the consumers and for the preservation of our environment.

“This coincidental connection between the 2021 theme for World Consumer Rights Day, “Tackling Plastic Pollution”, and the proactive initiatives of the Commission towards protecting the environment as well as efforts on tackling electronic waste in Nigeria tells the story of a shared vision for a satisfied consumer.”

He pointed out that NCC Act of 2003 enjoins the commission to protect the interest of the consumers. “We had made declarations to curtail excesses of some operators and to expand the frontiers of freedom for the consumers. Warnings had been handed out and fines have been imposed on erring operators. Determinations have also been made by the Commission to ensure consumers are neither short-changed nor denied their privileges and rights.

“The commission has ensured full compliance with Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards registration guidelines by the service providers and telecom consumers. This is to ensure proper registration to stop the use of improperly-registered SIMs, which usage is difficult to track. Having a credible subscriber database helps in tracing a SIM card to the real owner in case of any criminal investigation.  This will help in curbing the painful rise in tempo of kidnapping, robberies, banditry and similar crimes committed with the aid of the use of SIM cards.

“We have made arrests and prosecutions in the past in this regard and through this effort, we have been able to sanitize the telecoms ecosystem of improperly-registered SIM cards that pose threat to national security. It is therefore pertinent to say that the linking of SIM and National Identity Number, NIN, database will further help us in this direction toward protecting the consumers and all citizens at large. In this regard, the Commission wishes to echo the voice of Mr. President by thanking all telecom subscribers for their understanding and co-operation in the ongoing SIM-NIN harmonization exercise.”

These modifications were made to increase our reach to telecom consumers wherever they are while also observing COVID-19 protocols.

Mar 15, 2021 @ 8;31pm