The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said that
beyond providing essential emergency response services to the public, the
Emergency Communications Centres, ECCs, now provide employment placements for
many Nigerian youth and professionals.
The Commission said that apart from the above, the ECCs are
also offering informal business activities to citizens across the country.
The ECCs, which have been constructed and are now fully
operational in a total of 27 State capitals across the country, are reachable
on Toll-Free Number 112.
They are operating in a similar design to the 911 Emergency Numbers in some developed parts of the world to provide succour to individuals, who are witnesses or under distress by emergencies, arising from fire outbreaks, robbery or violent attacks, domestic and road accidents, health crisis, to instantly reach response agencies through the toll-free three (3) digit numbers, 112.
Four more centres are currently undergoing test runs to
commence services in September 2023, bringing the total to 31, while another
set of four are expected to come into operation before the end of the year.
The Commission said it has provided technology platforms
such as Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems for the respective response
agencies such as police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Fire
Service, Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Nigerian Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC), Ambulance Service, and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) to
facilitate the dispatch of emergency calls through the national emergency
toll-free number 112.
The three-digit code was designed to ensure that citizens in
emergency situations can easily recall the three-digit code 112 to report
emergency situations.
It said that agents of the ECCs have been trained and
equipped with state-of-the-art communications equipment, including digital
radio and Internet-protocol (IP) and geo-location technologies to enable
responders to easily identify the location of incidents for effective and
efficient delivery of rescue services to the public.
The NCC said that Emergency Centre services in Nigeria are
available, live, 24 hours a day, as the agents run in shifts to ensure that
services are delivered at all times of the day.
The response agencies, such as the Police with
round-the-clock duties to prevent, stop and arrest crimes, are now being
provided with additional mobile communications devices, some installed in their
offices, to enable them to instantly receive information from call agents at
the centres.
This is to also ensure that the top echelon of the force is
provided instant information for command and control over emergency situations
or incidents across the country.
As the ECCs assume more crucial roles in providing emergency
communications services to the citizenry, it is also providing additional
socio-economic responsibility of providing job opportunities to the citizens as
each of the centres has a staff made up of call agents, Facility/IT Staff, and
Administrators.
The basic salaries of the staff of ECCs have been carefully
set by the Commission to ensure that the jobs at the centres are attractive for
the Nigerian youths and other categories of employees.
In effect, more than 1,200 are currently offered employment
at the 27 operational centres across the country, while more will be employed
as the additional eight centres under different stages of completion become
fully operational by 2024.
The Centres are also managed by indigenous Nigerian
consultants who are engaged to provide total facility and operational
management of the centres.
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