NCC assures Blood Management Commission of support to achieve mandate

*Dr. Omale Amedu, Director-General, National Blood Service Commission, commends the Nigerian Communications Commission for the telecoms sector regulator’s strides in ensuring improved connectivity and remarkable contribution to the government’s Digital Economy agenda and Gross Domestic Product

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has expressed its willingness to offer any support required by the National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) to enable the latter to achieve its mandate of regulating, coordinating, and ensuring “the provision of safe, quality blood and blood products” to all persons who may need such in Nigeria.

Usman Malah, Director of Human Capital and Administration (DHCA), who led the NCC team to receive the NBSC delegation on behalf of Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of NCC, made the commitment recently when Dr. Omale Amedu, Director-General of the NBSC, led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the NCC Head Office, in Abuja, FCT.

Mr. Reuben Muoka, Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Monday, December 5, 2022, disclosed Dr. Amedu said the visit was to share information with NCC about the mandate of NBSC.

The NCC noted the blood service agency was established under the National Blood Service Commission Act of 2021, to reduce prevalence of diseases transmitted through blood, enhance public awareness of blood safety and voluntary non-remunerated blood donation, and rally a committed team of voluntary blood donors, and thereby build a national strategic safe blood reserve.

The telecoms sector regulatory Commission said the Chief Executive of NBSC also stated while 14 June had long been designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Blood Donor Day, Nigeria has additionally declared December 8 to show commitment to building sufficient blood reserve, considering the significance of blood to human survival and the centrality of blood and blood products among resources used in the production of cancer management drugs.

The NBSC CEO emphasised that the Commission considered NCC as a leading government agency in Nigeria, hence the decision to visit NCC as part of NBSC’s sensitisation of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other stakeholders to the need for regular blood donation in the country.

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Speaking on the visit, Dr. Amedu commended NCC for its strides in ensuring improved connectivity and remarkable contribution to the digital economy agenda of government as well as to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Responding further, the NCC’s DHCA thanked Amedu and his team for the courtesy visit, the kind words on the strides of the NCC, and NBSC’s collaborative spirit.

Malah noted this development aligned substantially with a strategic objective focus of NCC that speaks to partnership and collaboration with stakeholders.

The NCC staff are public-spirited, and many would be willing to donate blood voluntarily, stated the DHCA.

He also promised that recommendations would be made to the Management on the need to institute a special in-house sensitisation programme to further explore how to deepen support for the NBSC to enable it to achieve its mandate.

In respect of NBSC’s earlier request to NCC to explore the use of telecoms platforms to disseminate information about activities of NBSC, the DHCA said there were rules governing the telecoms sector and Commission would not want to breach such extant rules, policies, and directions.

Malah, however, recommended that NBSC reach out to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to agree on how the networks could be deployed to support the accomplishment of its constitutional mandate.

The NCC described the Blood Service Commission’s mandate as “laudable and central to human existence and sustenance”.