By Angela Nkwocha
The Executive Vice Chairman, of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, has affirmed that consumers are their main focal point, saying “we will abide by all the tenets of consumer rights in our day to day activities at the NCC”.
He made this known to commemorate World Consumer’s Right day set for March 15, 2020, the EVC said the NCC had put in place a series of initiatives to always cushion and protect the interest of the consumers.
The theme for this year’s event is ‘The Sustainable Consumer’. NCC has over the years hosted the flagship Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) where consumer issues are discussed extensively in a high profile session where the regulator, operators and consumers interact and answers got in the process. Eighty-eight of such parliaments have been held so far in the major cities across Nigeria.
He averred that consumer Town Hall Meetings (CTM) which exclusively hold in rural communities have been well received across the land. So far, 53 of such events have taken place.
Adding that their campaigns too to empower the Nigerian Youth through information and awareness creation regarding their rights and obligations within the Nigerian telecom industry as well as apprising them about the consumer protection initiatives of the Commission.
“We participate in trade fairs where we engage the consumer on one-on-one basis”.
According to the EVC, the Commission has developed and produced Consumer Education materials on major telecom issues for distribution. The developed fact sheets are translated into the three major languages (Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba) including Pidgin. Such materials cover the DND Campaign, SIM Registration and Replacement, role of NCC in consumer protection among others.
He pointed out that the Commission has in place different channels for lodging Consumer Complaints, including, the NCC 622 Toll Free number for escalating unresolved complaints and for seeking redress is working. The centre is open 8am 0 8pm Mondays to Saturdays. There has been consistent campaign on the 622 NCC Toll Free Line.
“The web portal is an alternative online channel for lodging complaints and making enquiries. The portal is available 24 hours. Regular monitoring of service providers helplines to ensure that the threshold set by the Commission is met 1.e number of rings before connecting to Interactive Voice Response (IVR), connection of calls to live agents, percentage of failed attempts to customer care helplines etc.
“Review of the Complaint Categories and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on Complaint Management in view of recent technological advancements”.
