NCC should strengthen its collaboration with other relevant Agencies. This was one of the eight resolutions that formed the communiqué at the Fourth quarterly meeting/open forum of the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum, ICAF, held at the Victoria Crown Plaza Hotel, V.I., Lagos on November 30, 2017. The theme of the open Forum was “Telecoms Consumer Dispute Resolution and redress mechanism”.
Earlier, in his welcome remarks, Alh. Abdullahi I. Maikano, Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, who doubles as the Designated NCC Officer, DNO, to ICAF, had earlier welcomed the everyone to the Forum. He stated that the Forum, which was established about 11 years ago, with a view to shaping the Telecoms industry, as it affects the protection of the rights of the consumer, which includes the physically challenged. He also stated that an MOU had been signed by with the NSCDC with a view to policing and securing the Telecoms infrastructure throughout the country as it is also awaiting the deliberation on the Critical Infrastructure Bill by the National Assembly. He was of the opinion that the two papers to be presented by Barrister Ayoola Oke, CEO, ICT Derivatives and Mrs. R. Oluwaleke Ogundipe, Director of Surveillance & Enforcement, CPC, will throw up issues that will further help in redressing the disputes that comes up between the service providers and the consumers.
In her own opening address, Prof. Felicia Nwoye, Chairman, ICAF/President Consumer Awareness Organization, stated that the NCC serves both the consumers and the service providers. “The NCC is the regulator of the Telecom industry in Nigeria, saddled with protecting the interest of both the consumers and the service providers”, she emphasized. She stated that the NCC has, over the years, in the process of carrying out its functions, embarked on a number of consumer-oriented programs. “One of these is the establishment of the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum, ICAF, which consists of a variety of members that includes consumers, service providers and professional bodies, etc”, she stressed.
Prof Nwoye emphasized that the consumers must arm themselves with the various laws that are related to the Telecom industry such as the Telecommunications Act 2004. She also implored consumers to always take the time to go through the various terms of service provision to enable them know where and how to lodge their complaint in their bid to seek redress to disputes.
In her presentation, Mrs. R. Olorunleke Ogundipe, Director of Surveillance and Enforcement, Consumer Protection Council, CPC, who represented the DG, CPC, and is also a member of ICAF, stated that the provision of services and products is for the benefit of the consumers. “No service or product is, however, 100% okay and market failure occurs all over the world. The question is, how do you address it when it occurs, and this is what is of concern to the CPC”, she reiterated. She stated that, this is of importance because, effective consumer redress resolution, gives them the confidence to continue to do business and make purchases from the service providers.
Mrs. Ogundipe stated that the CPC encourages consumers to take advantage of the Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, mechanism which includes Arbitration, Negotiation and Conciliation. If this fails, she stated, then, an Administrative hearing follows. She gave other alternatives which includes Investigation that entails observing trends in the country which necessitates investigation for rectification. She stated that CPC and NCC are collaborating in the Sales Promotion aspect, but she called for further collaboration between the two bodies to enhance the redress mechanism within the industry.
Delivering the second paper, titled “Telecoms consumer Dispute Resolutions and Redress Mechanism”, Barrister Ayoola Oke, CEO, ICT Derivatives, stated that, conflict is inevitable and that, resolving conflicts is always a challenge. He stated that the NCC and the CPC Acts are the legal framework for dispute resolution in the Telecoms industry. He explained that the first port of call for a consumer to seek redress, is to complain to the operator. If not satisfied with the outcome, the consumer can then escalate the complain to the NCC, which has provided a toll-free line, 622, for consumers to call to lay their complaints.
There are also the options of laying complaints trough the web portal and the social media, he explained. He stressed that, it is possible to achieve the resolution of some conflicts online without the parties to the dispute being present at a physical location. He stated that in line with this, the NCC has created and manages a special online consumer dispute resolution portal, where complains are filed together, with uploaded evidence, notified to parties and scheduled for resolution on the same portal. He also stated that the NCC has also provided a toll-free line for consumers to call to lay their complains.
Barrister Oke also stated that the NCC also monitors, from time to time, the ease with which consumers are able to connect with the operators help lines for lodging complaints, making enquiries, etc. He also used the occasion of his presentation to call for the encouragement of the use of the Ombudsman alternative. The Ombudsman. he stated, is an official that can be charged with representing the interests of the public, by investigating and addressing complaints or collating such complaints and forwarding them to the operators or NCC/CPC for resolution on behalf of complainants, especially in the rural areas.
Called for the use of the NBA to allow lawyers know what is available in terms of seeking redress for the Telecoms consumers, so that they can know how to assist them in resolving conflicts. This, he said, will get more complaints resolved, especially, in the rural areas.
During the discussion session, many ideas were posited. One of such was by Hygenius Omeje, Lagos State Sector Commander, FRSC, who stated the need for more enlightenment campaign to be mounted on this as many people do not know.
Mr. Ephraim Nwokonneya, Head CPDM, Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, read out the Communiqué reached at the Forum. These are as follows:
1. That the current channels for lodging consumer complaints, both within the Telecoms companies and NCC, can be said to be adequate, but improvement in the area of publicity should be looked into to improve consumer awareness with respect to those channels.
2. That the Agents who have been recruited to man those channels, should be trained to be more courteous, more friendly and professional in handling the consumer complaints.
3. That the current provision in the existing law that, complaints should be in written form, the existing laws should be amended to accommodate that inadequacy.
4. That ICAF members should deliberate on all issues raised with respect to consumer complaints redress mechanism and advice the commission accordingly.
5. That service providers should control the issues of inadequacies in their billings, such as inaccurate billings and unauthorized deduction of credits.
6. That the issue of call masking with respect to calls originating from outside Nigeria, should be speedily looked into by the NCC because of the security implications.
7. That NCC should strengthen its collaboration with other relevant Agencies.
8. That NCC should continue to monitor the Do-Not-Disturb service to ensure service provider compliance with directive.
The ICAF open forum was graced by the presence of consumers, service providers, NCC (the regulator), professional bodies, security operatives and members of the press.
