• By Adeyinka Akintunde

THE Nigeria Communications Commissions, NCC, has affirmed that it has the consumer at heart and will ensure that they are taken seriously in every projects the commission embarks on since the consumers are the pay masters, hence kings.

Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the NCC, stated this on Thursday, September 21, at the 81^st edition of the telecoms consumer parliament, held at the Eko Club, Surulere, Lagos.

Danbatta, represented by Sunday Dare, executive commissioner, Stakeholder Management, said NCC has not changed plans of putting the consumer first, as earlier declared on assumption to office as Vice Chairman of the NCC. “We take the consumer seriously because they are the paymasters of the industry. We want to regulate the sector to allow customers get more service.

“The Nigerian Telecommunications Commissions has declared 2017 as the year of the consumer. We are grateful to consumers for spending a significant portion of their disposable income on telecommunication services. If all our initiatives so far were met with no consumer effort and patronage, the telecommunications industry would have been a failure. It is the investment of the consumer through patronage of service that have supported the service provided. Thus there is a need to celebrate the consumer as the boss of the industry.”

Ayoola Oke, a lawyer, who gave a presentation on “Celebrating the Telecoms Consumer”, said: “the NCC is not just concerned with MTN or Airtel or 9Mobile, but it is concerned with all networks,, because it is a national network.”

The NCC, knowing that the consumer want value for money they spend on communication went into the streets of Lagos, Abeokuta, Akure and Benin to get the thoughts of services rendered to them. While some commended service providers like the MTN, Airtel, 9mobile and Glo, others were critical of them.

A customer, who simply gave her name as Modupe, in Abeokuta, complained of the hardship she faced in retrieving her stolen Sim card from the Airtel Service. “I only had my school ID card, and they were requesting for a national ID card, or permanent voters card.”

Some others urged the NCC to reduce cost, because they charge too much. They should also take note of unwanted calls that people receive.

Ajewole, however, urged the NCC to “close down any service provider that misbehaves with their customers.”

Representatives of the various service providers were called upon to publicise the 2442 “Do not Disturb” code, anchored by the face of the consumer, Helen Paul, with N-Tel emerging the winner of the publicity, and got N20,000 cash price.

– Sept 22, 2017 @ 08:34 GMT /