Some Nigerians have applauded the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for activating and implementing Emergency Communications Centre (ECC) project in 17 states, including Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital.
These Nigerians, whose opinions were sampled by IT Pulse via telephone call and chat on Whatsapp, narrated how the activation and implementation of the ECC project last year have led to an increase in the security of lives and properties.
For Opeyemi Agbeniyi, who narrated his personal experience using the ECC, suspected thieves entered their compound recently and were about moving away with some valuables, but were immediately apprehended as a result of a neigbour who alerted the Police through emergency coommunication number.
Also, Uche Okafor, a Benin City-based handset accessories dealer, a kidnapping attempt was averted in Benin as a result of the emergency toll-free number in December last year. He disclosed that owing to an emergency call via the 112 toll-free, the kidnappers were rounded up by the police as they were about to escape with their victim.
He commended the government’s resolve to implement the Emergency Communications Centre (ECC) project, especially in Edo State, stressing that the implementation has in no time helped to avert some deadly criminal incidences.
He also urged the government to carry out campaigns and create awareness among Nigerians, which will ultimately, make them to know about the existence of the Emergency Communications Centre.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has activated and implemented the Emergency Communications Centre (ECC) project in 17 states, including the Abuja as at last year.
These states include Benue, Kwara, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Imo, Anambra, Enugu and Adamawa.
The commissioning of the National Emergency Toll-Free Number “112” and the Katsina State Emergency Communication Centre for the North West Zone, which was successfully carried out on September 23, 2019, are some of the flagship projects of NCC in2019.
The information available indicates that necessary preparations and arrangements are ongoing towards ensuring the successful launch/commissioning of such centres, including publicity and enlightenment in the remaining five (5) geopolitical zones and the FCT.
Last year, in recognition of this important role, the NCC’s Danbatta was recognised as Nigeria’s Goodwill Ambassador in Security and Emergency Management while NCC, as a corporate body, was conferred with the award of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Security and Emergency Management.
These awards were received at the maiden Security and Emergency Management Awards hosted by the Emergency Digest, a publication of Image Merchants Promotion Limited, in conjunction with the Centre for Crisis Communication.
Other measures, which have been taken by NCC to boost the Federal Government’s drive to promote the security of lives and property, was the Commission’s ongoing efforts towards sanitising the country’s SIM database for increased security in the country.
In 2019, over 24 million invalidly-registered subscriber records were scrubbed (deduplicated) by the Commission via Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) in fulfillment of the mandate to establish a credible database of telephone subscribers.