By Seun Adams
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Sunday reiterated that in spite of the threat posed by COVID-19 pandemic,
the Commission is committed to tackling consumer-centric matters in the telecommunication eco-system.
To address overarching consumer challenges in the sector, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, said the Commission successfully hosted the second quarter meeting of Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) at it’s Head Office in Abuja.
At the meeting, NCC reiterated its pledge to increase its partnership with consumer rights advocacy groups in the sector to expand the sphere of consumer education through timely, accurate and adequate information sharing to enhance the level of education of the average telecom consumer.
Dr. Adinde, said the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who spoke through the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), Mr. Efosa Idehen, said the Commission is working to ensure that continuous and informed conversations take place among all stakeholders in the industry on all matters, particularly as it affects telecom consumers, who are the lifeblood of the sector.
He said: “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 telecommunications as a critical enabler of the digital economy,” Danbatta declared at a brief in-house evaluative session on the ICAF meeting.”
As a testimony to NCC’s readiness to work harmoniously with other stakeholders in the industry, the Commission, in collaboration with ICAF, is finalising the production of Telecom Consumer Handbook, in order to deepen consumer education about telecom products and services.
The EVC explained that issues affecting differently-abled 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 informed the meeting that the United Nations had passed a resolution that the persons in that category be addressed as “differently-abled people.”
The forum urged 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.