UMAR Danbatta, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said that the agency has always made the consumer the focus of its actions. This is because in reality, without the telecom consumer, there is no network, he said.

According to Danbatta, “Upon assumption of office at NCC as executive vice chairman and chief executive officer in 2015, I categorically stated the place of the consumer in my vision. In fact the focal point of my 8-point agenda is the consumer.

“We buoyed our philosophy on the tripod of availability, affordability and accessibility of telecom services to the consumer. To give force of action to our message, we declared 2017 as the year of the telecom consumer. The dedication of this year (2017) to telecom consumer once again underscores the commitment of the commission to consumer protection.”

He said that NCC has institutionalized in the commission a framework for ensuring quality service delivery to its stakeholders.

“It is pertinent to note that the essential requirement to create better public service is the leadership commitment with the support of decision makers in relation to the allocation and utilization of resources in order to improve the quality of public service,” he said, adding that improving the quality of public service is difficult to achieve when the participation of users of the services in the development is very low.

He stated that the most important aspects of service users participation is their aspiration for variety, quality and appropriate costing of service delivery. “Trust is without doubt the key to success for improving public services. Mutual trust will generate positive communication and interaction and create more meaningful services.

“We recommend that the government should introduce the public service excellence award for the ministry, department or agency which excels in all spheres of its operations in order to increase productivity and efficiency. This would be a good incentive for the public sector which is under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered, Danbatta said.

He lamented the slow quality of public service in Nigeria, saying that the service quality practices in many public sector organisations in Nigeria is slow and is further exacerbated by difficulties in measuring outcomes, greater scrutiny from the public and media, a lack of freedom to act quickly without authorization and a requirement for decisions to be based on extant law.

In a paper presentation at the national conference on public service delivery in Nigeria on Thursday, July 13, in Kaduna, Danbatta said the quality of service delivery in the public sector in the country is beset with lack of monitoring of outcomes and failure to hold anyone to account for specific service delivery; shortages of service capacity and inaccessibility for most citizens; poor service quality and customer care, and lack of support services such as finance, technology, procurement and personnel that are required for quality service delivery.

—  Jul 24, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT