Telecom
Disaster Management: Emergency Communications Centres to the Rescue
Federal executive council recently approved the release of N2.4bilion for the commencement of Emergency Communications centre project across the country, setting the pace for full take off of the project four years after it was conceived.
Emergence Communications Centres is an initiative of the federal government under the ministry of information and Communications. The centres are designed to offer Nigerians in distressed situation assistance by them making a call through to the centre on its code and the centre will respond with rescue depending on the nature of the distress.
The country has a poor record of disaster management in spite of the establishment of various agencies whose primary responsibility is to effectively respond to disaster whenever and wherever it happens, with the view to assisting the victims.
Among these agencies include the police, fire service, road safety and above all National Emergence Management Agency (Nema) established in 1999 to coordinate activities of all disaster management agencies in the country.
On January 27 2002, Lagos state experienced what many described as the worst disaster in the history when the Ikeja army cantonment went into flames which resulted in the loss of many lives. It is perhaps regrettable that greater percentage of Nigerians that died as a result of that incident were not killed by the exploded bomb but due to the fear of uncertainty, as they were not adequately informed about what was going on. Many thought that Nigeria was under attack by external force and in the process of running for dear lives, they met their untimely death by jumping into the canal. Observers believe that if people were informed either through radio or television on the cause of the explosion many lives would have been saved in that disaster. Few years after this unfortunate incident, Nigeria’s level of preparedness for disaster management was put to test again when on October 22, 2005, a Bellview Airline crashed at Lisa village, Ogun state. It took over 24 hours to locate the crashed airline and by the time this was done, the entire passenger on board had died. On December 10, same year, a Sosoliso jetline crashed within the perimeter walls of Port Harcourt Airline, consuming, in its wake, 110 Nigerians, including 62 children. The Airport Fire Service was not able to save any live from the resulting inferno owing malfunctioning of equipment. These are many other occurrences that have exposed the level of decay in the country’s emergence management institutions. It is against this backdrop and in an effort to strength these institution as well as provide a more effective means of emergence management that federal government through ministry of information and communications directed Nigerian Communication centres for the country.
Emergence Communications Centre
Emergence Communications Centres is an initiative of the federal government under the ministry of information and Communications. The minister in August 2005 set up a committee headed by Mr. Steven Bello of Nigerian Communications Commission. Other members include Mr. F.Y. Daudu, ministry of Communications as secretary, Mr. Balarabe Gambo, National Emergence Management Agency, representatives of the police and Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (Nitel), as well Mr. Chioke Ogugua representing telecommunications operators in the country.
The committee was to determine the organizational framework and administrative structure that will be required to establish and operate a public protection communications system; recommend a suitable telephone number that will be assigned for distressed call all over the country; as well as recommend means of funding for the scheme to ensure that it is self, sustaining and independent of government funding or budgetary allocations.
The committee was also to recommend a frequency or frequencies that should be reserved to communicate with the centre; to determine, if there is any legislative or enactment required in order to give legal backing to any of the recommendations made; and recommend modalities for its implementation.
The committee was given four weeks to submit its reports to the federal executive council. Upon the rectification of the report, NCC was directed to implement the recommendation on the establishment of the National Emergency Communications Centre.
Implementation effort
As apart of its implementation plans, NCC mapped out four levels of interaction on the establishment of the centres. These includes interaction with equipment vendors such as Nokia, Siemens among others that will be supplying equipment that will be used in the centres, telecommunication operators, civil society agencies responsible for disaster management as well as state governments that are going to provide land for the communication centres.
At the interactive session with telecommunications service operators held in Lagos, Mr. Steven Bello, executive commissioner, NCC, explained that the emergency service code is usually an all service number that can be called in any situations where state-run emergency service are needed.
Bello noted that the interaction with operators was to discuss the requirement for the interconnectivity of such centres which is based on Geographical Information System (GIS). According to him, the commission wants the operators to be able to send some information about the subscribers that are dialing 119 distress codes in case of emergency.
“We want to get where the co-ordinate of the cell site from which the call is coming from, we want to get the telephone number if possible the caller’s state and local government. Once we get this information, we can use it to query our data base which we are about compiling, from there we will be able to get the nearest response agency close to the victim, he said.
He cited instance of people who get into distress in places where they don’t know anybody or telephone number of closest police station, ambulance or other emergence response agencies. Such people, he said, can dial the three digit number, which will direct the person to an emergency communications centre nearest to him, and from there the person will be directed to the nearest response agency that can help him.
Apart from this, each of the centres would have standby ambulance and other infrastructure like a borehole to take care of some disasters. “We will have fuel deport in the emergency communication centre so that the police vehicles or ambulance stationed at the centre will not complain they don’t have fuel to move when it’s being called,” Bello said. “We are going to provide all the necessary infrastructure, in fact, in the emergency communications centres we will also provide helicopter landing park so that the states that have helicopters such as Abuja and Kaduna can make use of it when there is need for the helicopter to go and rescue somebody who is in a place that is not accessible.” All the emergency calls are going to be toll free from all network operators in the country.
In line with the recommendation of the committee on the method of financing the communications centres so that it will not depend on budgetary allocation. Bello said they are looking at a similar system in United States of America where one percent in every call made is taxed to finance the centre.
Having realized the need to partner relevant agencies in the establishment of these centres, Bello said NCC would collaborate with Nema in the implementation of the scheme.
He said this explained the presence of Mr. Daniel Gambo, deputy director, communications, Nema, at the interaction with telecoms operators on the initiative.
Gambo said they intend to engage the services of experts in disaster reduction and management.
Mr. Samuel Ucheaga, managing director, Mavis Computel Nigeria, the consulting company for the scheme, said there is going to be a legislation that will prescribe penalty for phones identified to have made calls or send short message service that is not meant for emergency situation to the code. The penalty, he said will be to block such phone line.
He explained that they are also going to establish a smooth communications between distress caller and the administrators in the emergency centres.
Ucheaga also noted that the emergency communications centres are going to interface with switches of telecommunications operators to ensure that calls are not delayed in anyway.
NCC has so far gotten land allocation from four state governments which include, Taraba, Plateau, Kwara and Kaduna. The project is likely going to take off in Abuja.
The need for Nigeria to think outside the box in its need to drive towards global relevance with innovations and scientific developments will be on the front burner at the NITRA Innovative & Scientific Conference scheduled to hold on Thursday July 23, 2026 in Ikeja, Lagos.
NITRA
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will lead other delegates to discuss and take far-reaching decisions at the event, which has its theme as “Bridging Nigeria’s Digital Divide With Scientific Innovation”.
Other companies that have indicated interest in partnering with NITRA include mobile communications company, Tecno; Africa’s premier end-to-end AI solutions company, Hyperspace; and telecommunications data infrastructure company, Digital Realty.
Speaking on the proposed event, the Chairman, Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA), Chike Onwuegbuchi noted that the event will seek to create a platform for government and private organisations to deliberate on policies around scientific innovations in Nigeria, challenges, place of indigenous and foreign collaboration, roles of each stakeholder, and grassroots development in that regard, among others.
According to him: “The Federal government, with series of programmes and partnerships, has established the urgent need to create an ecosystem that thrives on scientific innovation, breeding institutions and individuals with a target of placing the country at the fore-front of Next-Gen development.
It is a known fact that digital and scientific innovations are crucial, not only to the survivability of a nation, but also to the sustainability of its growth and development, with significant effect on economic strength, global image, defense and security, government capabilities to function, and public health and safety, communication and digital footprint, among others.
The federal government is actively driving scientific innovation to foster economic diversification and build a $1 trillion economy by 2030. Efforts are heavily focused on commercializing research, establishing massive research funds, and funding strategic infrastructure, particularly in technology, biotechnology, and healthcare. Core government initiatives and policies include the newly instituted National Research and Innovation Development Fund (NRIDF), which aims to mobilize about $500 million annually to support research and the commercialization of scientific outputs; and the Nigeria Genomic City, a multi-ministerial initiative aimed at transforming Nigeria into a leading hub for genomics, precision medicine, and biotechnology. It is designed to protect indigenous data, stimulate artificial intelligence in health, and develop a highly skilled scientific workforce.
According to the General Secretary of NITRA, Mr. Chidiebere Nwankwo, the forum will also be a vehicle to propagating the views of decision makers to the public, thereby furthering the cause of public awareness and information dissemination on the topic.
The focus, he said will be on how Nigeria can sustain digital innovative growth and scientific development in Nigeria
The board of global payments company, PayPal, says a 53 billion dollars takeover offer from financial technology firm, Stripe, and private equity company, Advent International, does not adequately reflect the company’s long-term value.
PayPal
According to reports, the proposed acquisition, valued at 60.50 dollars per share, remains under consideration, with the board yet to formally respond to the offer.
The directors are said to be evaluating not only the financial value of the proposal but also the structure of the financing, the timeline for completing the transaction and the likelihood of obtaining regulatory approvals.
They are also considering the possibility of competing bids emerging.
Although the offer represents a premium of about 28 per cent above PayPal’s recent share price, the board believes the company could deliver greater value to shareholders if its ongoing turnaround strategy succeeds.
Following reports of the bid, PayPal shares gained about two per cent to close at 56.73 dollars.
Sources familiar with the discussions said Stripe and Advent have secured approximately 50 billion dollars in debt financing from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, while both firms would jointly contribute 17 billion dollars in equity.
Under the proposal, the two companies would jointly own PayPal instead of dividing its operations.
PayPal, Stripe, Advent International, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have all declined to comment on the proposed transaction.
The discussions come as PayPal seeks to strengthen its business after years of increasing competition from rivals including Apple Pay, Google Pay and emerging financial technology firms.
The company, which was valued at about 360 billion dollars in 2021, now has a market capitalisation of approximately 36 billion dollars.
Since assuming office as Chief Executive Officer in March 2026, Enrique Lores has embarked on a restructuring programme aimed at improving operational efficiency and restoring growth.
The restructuring includes the creation of three business divisions comprising Checkout, Venmo and Consumer Financial Services, and Payments and Crypto.
The company is also targeting 1.5 billion dollars in cost savings through the deployment of artificial intelligence technologies.
PayPal’s latest financial results indicated signs of recovery, with first-quarter revenue rising seven per cent year-on-year to 8.35 billion dollars, while total payment volume increased by eight per cent to 464 billion dollars.
If approved, the transaction would combine two of the world’s largest digital payments companies.
The combined business would process an estimated 3.7 trillion dollars in annual payment volume, significantly strengthening its position in the global online payments market.
However, analysts expect the proposed acquisition to face intense regulatory scrutiny because of the companies’ combined market share in merchant payment services.
To address possible antitrust concerns, the bidders have reportedly considered options, including separating PayPal’s Braintree business or other assets if required by regulators.
Sources said Stripe and Advent remain interested in pursuing the acquisition despite the board’s reservations, although negotiations are expected to continue.
Market observers are also awaiting PayPal’s earnings report scheduled for July 28 for further indications of the company’s financial recovery and future growth prospects.
Concerns over network reliability and its impact on Nigeria’s growing creator economy took centre stage at MTN Nigeria’s Data on Trial event, where content creator and streamer, Jarvis, challenged telecommunications operators to improve connectivity for digital creators.
Speaking during the event, Jarvis asked whether there were locations in Nigeria where uninterrupted internet connectivity could support real-life (IRL) streaming without network disruptions.
“Are there places where there is no breakage when streaming IRL?” she asked.
Her question highlighted the challenges faced by content creators who depend on stable internet services for live streaming, content uploads and real-time engagement with audiences.
Responding, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Technical Officer, Mr Yahaya Ibrahim, said network performance depends on several factors, including location, network coverage, device capability and the number of users connected to a particular base station.
He noted that operators continue to invest in expanding network capacity to meet the growing demand for data services.
Earlier, MTN’s General Manager, Network Performance and Quality Assurance, Mr Michael Ndukwe, explained the evolution of mobile network technology in Nigeria, from first-generation (1G) services to the current fifth-generation (5G) technology.
According to him, each phase of technological advancement has significantly increased network capacity and enabled new digital services.
Ndukwe cited Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) data showing that Nigerians consumed about 13.2 million terabytes of data in 2025.
He added that data usage reached approximately 4.06 million terabytes in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting the country’s increasing reliance on digital platforms and online services.
According to him, the growth is being driven by wider adoption of 4G and 5G networks, increased smartphone penetration, the proliferation of smart devices and expanding use of social media platforms.
Participants at the event noted that as more Nigerians build businesses and careers around digital content, access to reliable and high-speed internet has become critical to sustaining the country’s digital economy and creator ecosystem.
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