The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has held its maiden edition of Campus Conversation, an Outreach Programme which is an important part of NCC’s new Telecom Consumer Conversation (TCC).
The Campus Conversation programme, which was held at the University of Abuja followed the re-structuring and re-branding of the Commission’s existing consumer outreach programmes.
Rolling out some of the Commission’s achievement to telecom consumers, NCC’s Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Efosa Idehen, noted that NCC has always been at the forefront of protecting the interest of the consumers as a consumer-centric regulator.
“Over the years, NCC has embarked on many initiatives and programmes to deliver on its consumer protection mandate, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003 and in line with other subsidiary legislations, guidelines, directions and determinations to proactively address consumer concerns,” he said.
Idehen explained that Campus Conversation takes life from NCC’s consumer protection and empowerment agenda as stipulated in the Commission’s Strategic Management and Vision Plans, as well as extant policies and well-conceived decisions of Management.
According to him, the objective of the Conversation is to ensure that the telecom consumers on University campuses are adequately informed and educated on their rights and privileges to acquire knowledge they require to take informed decision and protect themselves from unwholesome practices from service providers.
“Essentially, this maiden edition of our Campus Conversation is kicking off here at the University of Abuja today, as part of our strategic effort at creating awareness among the university students on their rights and obligations as telecoms consumers, as well as sensitising them on the many initiatives of the Commission designed to enhance consumer protection and empowerment,” Idehen added.
At the event, the NCC team led by Idehen, took turns to educate the campus community on Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration, the Benefits of National Identity Number (NIN)-SIM Integration, Cybersecurity and related online protection issues, among other initiatives of the NCC.
Specifically, participants were also enlightened on the various consumer-centric activities of NCC such as the NCC Consumer Complaint Toll-free Number 622; the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Short Code 2442 instituted to manage unsolicited messages; the National Emergency Toll-free Number 112 which every citizen is expected to know and use during emergencies. Over twenty Emergency Communication Centres (ECCs) where 112 calls are received and escalated, have been constructed by the NCC and operational in different states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
