The Nigerian Communications Commission has inaugurated an interdepartmental working group, whose sole aim will be to combat the electronic financial fraud in Nigeria using telecom platforms.
The Committee, according to Mr. Sunday Dare, NCC’s Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management, will articulate concrete responses to combat the use of telecom platforms to commit financial frauds.
In a Facebook post, NCC stated that the Committee, which is a recommendation from a successful stakeholders forum on electronic financial fraud it held recently, will also work to produce the Commission’s position to address the telecom aspects of the national response to electronic financial frauds in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Commission has sealed partnership agreement with other government agencies and Ministries to set up joint committees to combat the recurrent cycle of fraudsters deploying their trade via fake and substandard mobile devices.
The other agencies are the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Federal Ministry of Communications, the Federal Ministry of Communications, the ICRC, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the NCC.
The mandate of the committee is to ensure the implementation of Mobile Devices Management Systems (DMS), a Public-Private Partnership project, aimed at combatting the proliferation of fake, counterfeit, substandard and cloned mobile communications devices in the telecommunication industry.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, while inaugurating the committees in Abuja, disclosed that the Commission, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, has the mandate to type-approve all devices used in the telecommunications industry and to ensure that all devices used in the telecommunications industry are in line with agreed standards and specifications.
“The principal objective of the proposed DMS project is to establish a secure and comprehensive single-window solution that will enable the Commission to implement a proven solution in the Nigerian environment that is sustainable and demonstrate value for money in addition helping to address the various concerns that have been raised with the NCC from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in our regular interactions on security matters as it concerns the telecommunications industry,” he said.