NCC Hosts Conferences on EMF Exposure & Health, MNP

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will between June 27- 28, host the first West African Conference on EMF Exposure and Health, in Lagos.

 The conference is coming against the backdrop of the misinformation and propaganda about the relationship between mobile communications and health, the

The conference with the theme 'Harmonising EMF Policy, Exposure Limits, and Risk Communication in West Africa, the conference will address all the issues related to concerns over the possibility of the combined radiofrequency waves produced by a wide range of ICT equipment posing health hazard to the consumers.

The event is being hosted by Nigeria’s telecom regulator in collaboration with the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF), and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

Speakers at the forum are also drawn from international organizations and responsible for health and environment as well as those responsible for these activities in Nigeria, including the World Health Organization, MMF, ICNIRP, NESREA, Nigerian Medical Association, among other experts and stakeholders from the telecommunications industry across the West African region.

Dr. Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman, NCC, who spoke about the conference, said given the number of phone users across the sub-region, and concerns over telephone infrastructure like base stations and other equipment, there is need to investigate, evaluate, monitor and report if there are potential public health issues or not so that the citizens will be well informed.

"At the end of the conference, we should be able to arrive at a position that is well informed and re-assuring to the public. That is why the Commission is gathering experts and authorities from various fields, including the World Health Organisation," Dr. Juwah stated.

The conference will be declared open by Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology, while the Ministers of Environment and Health, Hajia Hadiza Maila-fiya and Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu respectively are expected to be in attendance.

Meanwhile, NCC and London-based BSP Media Group is set to host Africa’s premium international forum on Mobile Number Portability implementation and management in Abuja from June 28 – 29, 2012.

Coming alongside plans by the NCC to introduce Mobile Number Portability, MNP, in the last quarter of this year, the event is designed to advance the role of the regulator in implementation of the programme, and the management of the inter-operator relationships scenarios for collaboration.

The event which will also explore areas covering topics like how to exploit MNP to achieve subscriber growth, reduce churn and increase market share, would also provide information on the industry and how users can get the most from MNP in a multi-SIM and multi-handset environment. The forum will also address quality assurance challenges arising from MNP implementation.

Experts are drawn from several multilateral organizations, telecom regulatory agencies and the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, James Wild of KPMG, Les Oliver of ICC, UK, Suleman Khalique of Mobilink , Pakistan, among others.