By Jacob Ogodo
Abakaliki
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has put modalities in place to checkmate the excesses and unwholesome practices of Network providers, which had over the years caused pains to telecom consumers in the country.
The zonal controller for South-East geopolitical zone, Emilia Nwokoro, who stated this during the Consumer Conversation Forum (CCF) at
Federal Government Girls College, Ezzamgbo, Ebonyi state, added that the Commission had directed all mobile network operators to dedicate a short code 2442 to enable consumers make an informed decision on what messages they wished to receive from the networks.
According to her, “at NCC, we believe that the Consumer is the king and as such, he or she needed to be educated on their right to quality service, right to be heard, right to be informed, right to safety as well as right to seek redress where necessary”.
Nwokoro expressed worries that despite repeated awareness campaigns by NCC, many Nigerians were yet to understand and appreciate the role
of the commission, network providers and telecom consumers.
“We have mapped out several campaign strategies to deliver the overall intent of the Commission throughout 2017. One of it is what we are doing here today. The key goals on which the campaign will run is on improving quality of service, protecting and empowering the consumers.
“The NCC 622 toll-free line enables consumers to lodge unresolved complaints to NCC at no cost, but consumers are expected to have lodged their complaints to their network operators first. NCC acts as a mediator between the consumer and operator to ensure that their complaints are resolved in timely manner”.
