Just two months ago after the 2017 Year of Nigerian Telecom Consumer was kicked off in Abuja, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has extended the landmark event which has been lauded by different stakeholders to Lagos.
The campaign which was launched yesterday in Lagos at the De Blue Roof Event Centre, Ikeja had in attendance the Lagos State Government and top echelon industry stakeholders across boards.
The Nigerian Communications Commission had mapped out 2017 as a year for the Nigerian telecom consumers, an initiative fuelled out the desire and determination to ensure excellent quality service and empower the Nigerian telecom consumers numbering over 150 million.
“There was the need to extend this campaign to Lagos because Lagos is regarded as a home to many of the key players in the telecommunications sector,” Professor Umar Danbatta said at the campaign in Lagos.
He stated that the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics in its first quarter telecommunications sector report for 2016 placed Lagos voice subscriber base at 19.04 million or 12.8% of the country’s subscribers and 12.62 million internet subscription or 13.65%.
As a fact 2017, the Commission had on several occasions reiterated that Nigerian consumers would be the focus.
The EVC explained that the NCC intends to inform and educate the consumer with the sole intent of protecting and empowering them to make the right decisions.
As this event was born out of the management’s decision to amplify the year’s activities towards ensuring that the consumer enjoys a customer experience that is enhanced and consistent in time and quality.
“As a regulator, NCC has the mandate to ensure all its key stakeholders are protected and their interests balanced in an atmosphere of fairness, transparency and within the framework of the NCA 2003 and other subsidiary legislations,” he said.
In his welcome address, Sunday Dare, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, said the initiative is derivative of the 8-Point Agenda of the of the present NCC management leveraging on the two key components of improving Quality of Service (QoS) and Informing and Empowering Consumers.
“The telecom consumer embraces for us at NCC the various stakeholders; we are mandated by the NCA 2003 to protect, inform and educate.
Beyond the individual user who uses multiple operators and hence lines, we have in the stakeholder matrix other consumers such as the State Government, the National Assembly, etc.,” he noted.
Sunday explained that the Commission seeks comprehensive approach as stipulated in its Corporate Code of Governance for the telecommunication industry, adding that the goal of the entire campaign is to make the consumer experience of the average Nigerian better.
Speaking also at the campaign in Lagos, Tunde Braimoh, Chairman, House Committee on Information, Strategy, Publicity and Security, who represented the Lagos State Government, congratulated the NCC for being resilient in its responsibilities by empowering the telecom consumers.
He said out of over 152 million subscribers in Nigeria that Lagos state records about 20 million and that underscores the importance of flagging off the campaign in Lagos.
Adding, that the industry regulator had been a high pillar in ensuring that Nigerian consumers enjoy good quality service.
Braimoh charged the NCC to extend the campaign to the hinterlands such as marketplaces, so as to deepen what the Commission is doing.
“The NCC is doing something that we shouldn’t shy away from, but it is paramount to extend this campaign in interior areas”, he added.
