The Nigerian Communications
Commission, NCC, admitted yesterday that it never anticipated the daunting
challenges thrusted upon the telecom sector this year, particularly the
indebtedness of Etisalat Nigeria to a consortium of banks to the tune of 1.2
billion dollars.
The Commission ,however, said the
problem was being managed by concerned regulatory bodies in such a way that
Etisalat’s 21 million customers would continue to enjoy its services, while not
a single worker would be fired in the company as a result of the crisis.
The NCC’s Executive
Commissioner in Charge of Stakeholders Management, Mr Sunday Dare, made the
remarks at the opening ceremony of the 80 edition of Telecom Consumer Parliament
(TCP) at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja.
He noted that while the forum was
to find answers to various issues agitating the minds of the consumer, the
regulatory body has been consistent in its resolve to protect the rights of the
consumer in line with international best practices and standards.
Dare who represented Prof. Umar
Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC at the forum maintained that
the NCC declared this year “The Year of Telecom Consumers” to underscore the
fact that if all the initiatives, projects and investments in the telecom
sector had met with low consumer patronage, the telecom revolution would have
been a failure.
It is really the investment of
the consumer through patronage of services that has encouraged build out
and supported service provision. Thus there is need to celebrate and recognize
the consumer as the boss of the industry, Prof Danbatta stated.
Danbatta further said: ” the
commission has taken steps to ensure that the telecommunications sector remain
vibrant and has carried out its regulatory functions to ensure that the
companies operating in the country are healthy.
“Where necessary NCC has made
interventions to prevent disruptions to consumers experience. In addition, to
ensure that licensees in the industry continue to operate as viable business,
we have commenced aggressive enforcement of the NCC’s Code of Corporate
Governance”.
Acting Director General of
Consumer Protection Council, Akinju Opelola noted that the telecom consumers
have become vulnerable due to series of abuses in the sector and urged the
regulatory body to enforce necessary penalties for the protection of the
consumers.
She listed invasion of consumers
privacy, fraudulent and unstructured services and unsolicited messages as part
of the abuses, saying the NCC should ensure the rights of consumers to standard
services, value addition, and rights to healthy environment.
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