NCC sensitises BUK students, others on rights and obligations as telecoms consumers

*The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has organised an edition of its Campus Conversation programme to enlighten students and others at Bayero University, Kano, on their rights, privileges and obligations to enhance their quality of experience as telecoms consumers

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

In continuation of the regulatory Commission’s countrywide consumer information and sensitisation campaigns, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has hosted another edition of its Campus Conversation (CC) at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Northern Nigeria.

ConsumerConnect reports the NCC officials, at the weekend, engaged in intensive enlightenment of students of the University and other members of the academic community on their rights and privileges as telecoms consumers.

Cross-sections of students and other members of the University community at NCC’s Campus Conversation at BUK, in Kano 

The Commission noted the Campus Conversation initiative, a sub-programme of the Telecoms Conversations (TCs), is a modified consumer information and education outreach programme in the purview of NCC’s Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB).

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“It consists of six sub-programmes, all conceived to target different categories of telecoms consumers in order to empower them with the right information they require to make informed decisions,” said the telecoms regulator.

The NCC in a statement issued Tuesday, November 29, 2021, in Abuja, FCT, said Mr. Efosa Idehen, Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) at NCC, addressing a large gathering of students during the recent CC, said the Conversation at BUK was the fourth edition in a series.

Idehen noted that the Commission organised the forum to enlighten the student segment of telecoms consumers about their rights, privileges and obligations to enhance quality of experience in respect of telecoms services.

According to the CAB Director, represented at the programme by Hafsat Lawal, Head of Consumer Policy Development and Monitoring, the Conversation had earlier taken place at the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), University of Benin (UNIBEN) and University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

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Idehen said the objective of the CC is to ensure that telecoms consumers on the country’s University campuses are adequately informed and educated on their rights and privileges.

Besides, he stated through the Conversation, Nigerian students as telecoms consumers are able to acquire knowledge to make informed decisions, and be able to protect themselves from unwholesome practices by service providers.

The Director Consumer Affairs also outlined numerous channels the NCC had emplaced for aggrieved telecoms consumers to seek redress.

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These channels include the NCC Consumer Portal through which consumers can lodge complaints and also learn about consumer-centric activities of the Commission, said he.

Other initiatives, Idehen noted, include the NCC 622 toll-free number, a second-level complaint mechanism for telecoms consumers to escalate complaints earlier lodged with their service providers which have not been addressed satisfactorily.

The CAB Director as well mentioned the NCC’s corporate social media handles on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, as well as through correspondence via the NCC official email address (ncc@ncc.gov.ng).

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Idehen also informed the students to take advantage of all NCC’s channels of communication to get redress in terms of resolution of their telecoms service-related complaints.

In his address at the forum, Dr. Alhassan Haru, Director of New Media and Information Security at NCC, emphasised the importance of cyber awareness and vigilance.

Dr. Haru said as the Commission works with all stakeholders to enhance accessibility to the Internet for more people, cybercriminals are also on the prowl to defraud unsuspecting users of the Net.

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The Director of New Media and Information Security further stated: “We constantly encourage the youths, especially students in universities, who are the largest individual users of the Internet to use Internet for legitimate activities and more importantly to be conscious of cyber criminals.

“So, at NCC, we also ensure that we educate you in order to ensure a safe cyberspace  experience for all Nigerians.”

Earlier in her welcome address, Mistura Aruna, Head of Consumer Information and Education at NCC, said the Commission had designed a number of consumer-centric initiatives that CAB has been mandated to take to all shades of stakeholders.

Aruna said that this mandate is in line with the NCC’s Strategic Management Plan (SMP) and other policy documents of the Federal Government, all of which have been streamlined in the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP) 2021-2025 with emphasis and focus on strengthening consumer protection and empowerment in Nigeria.

“The students, who participated in the event, enthusiastically, engaged in the conversation process, asking questions to seek more clarification on telecom service-related services.

“The Commission also distributed Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials to the students so they can easily reference for effective and rewarding engagement with their service providers and the Commission,” NCC said.

Aside from Campus Conversation, the regulator added other types of the Telecoms Conversations are Telecoms Public Sphere, Market Conversation, Professionals’ Dialogue, Village Square Dialogue, and the NYSC Sensitisation.

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