As Nigeria joins the rest of the global community to mark the World Consumer’s Right day on March 15, 2020, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is planning a series of initiatives to uphold and protect the interest of telecommunications service consumers in Nigeria.
Umar Garba Danbatta, the executive vice chairman (EVC) of NCC said that the interest of the telecoms regulator is primarily to ensure better quality of service for consumers.
“We will abide by all the tenets of consumer rights in our day to day activities at the NCC,” he said.
The EVC’s statement underpins activities of the regulatory agency which has manifest oversight functions over the various network operators in Nigeria. The theme for this year’s event is ‘The Sustainable Consumer’.
The NCC has over the years hosted the flagship Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) where consumer issues are discussed extensively in a high profile session where the regulator, operators and consumers interact and answers got in the process.
Eighty-eight of such parliaments have been held so far in the major cities across Nigeria.
Besides this, no fewer than 110 Consumer Outreach Programmes (COPs) have been held. The event holds monthly in urban centres in the country.
Consumer Town Hall Meetings (CTM) which exclusively hold in rural communities have been well received across the land. So far, 53 of such events have taken place.
There have also been elite enlightenment campaigns targeted at professional organisations during their yearly conferences.
The NCC says this is done to carry along the high profile professionals who may not have enough time to participate in the TCP, COP and CTMs which hold regularly.
There are campaigns too to empower the Nigerian youth through information and awareness creation regarding their rights and obligations within the Nigerian telecom industry as well as apprising them about the consumer protection initiatives of the Commission.
“We participate in trade fairs where we engage the consumer on one-on-one basis”.
According to the EVC, the Commission has developed and produced Consumer Education materials on major telecom issues for distribution. The developed factsheets are translated into the three major languages (Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba) including Pidgin. Such materials cover the DND Campaign, SIM Registration and Replacement, role of NCC in consumer protection among others.
Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson
