Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, has warned telecom operators against making bogus promises to the consumers during the festive seasons, as sanctions will be melted on erring service providers by the commission.
Ndukwe stated this at a lecture on Nigeria’s leadership and Vision 20 20-20, said that the Consumer Affairs Department of the Commission has been mandated to make an assessment of the various incentives coming from the various operators by way of promotions and other consumer focused offers to ensure that they are delivered in the best interest of the subscribers without compromising the quality of services being delivered.
He said that operators are aware of the key performance indicators issued by the commission which they are expected to take into consideration in providing services and incentives.
He however advised the consumers to be very wary of their choices for telecommunications services as there are many operators in the market to choose from.
Engr. Ndukwe explained that ICT drives the global economy and is also key to foreign investments as a country with the requisite ICT would attract the best of investments.
“The fact that we now have some global operators like Visa Card, MasterCard and similar online banking services is as a result of the improved ICT environment in Nigeria,” he added. He also indicated that with these facilities, online booking of flights and other services in Nigeria has become a reality, while doctors can now engage in medical diagnosis and treatments over long distances.
At the event organized by Leadership Watch, an NGO and phone rights advocacy group led by Rev. Dr. Martins Iwuanyanwu, during which Multilinks and Zain emerged winners for customer focused services for the CDMA and GSM categories respectively, Engr. Ndukwe said the revolution and possibilities existing in Nigeria today can be traced to the environment, and not just mere campaign because no amount of campaign around the world would have brought these services without the infrastructure on ground.
“We have these services because we have available ICT base upon which these services can thrive”, he said.
He said the nation is encouraged by government’s determination to ensure that Nigeria becomes one of the 20th economies in the year 2020 and that ICT in Nigeria is already directed towards the realization of these national objectives.
Engr. Ndukwe also noted that with the regulatory emphasis tilting towards the provision of broadband infrastructure, the needs for ICT for accelerated social and economic growth towards the vision of the government would be achieved.
The NCC boss predicted that given the current growth rate of growth, Nigeria’s teledensity by 20-20 would be more than 100%.
He noted that power supply is also critical to this vision, hence, the concerted efforts by the government to address these issues.
Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, said there is need for the entire citizenry to embrace ICT as the nation moves ahead, as anybody without ICT knowledge in today’s world would soon be left behind.
Chief Arthur Mbanefo, former Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations, requested government, especially the Ministry of Education to be proactive by fining a way to include ICT in the educations curricular to ensure that Nigeria and its future generation is attuned to the imperatives of ICT driven economy.
Ambassador Segun Olusola, former Nigeria’s envoy to Ethiopia, commended the NCC for managing a very stable relationship with the broadcast sector in Nigeria, which he said has also resulted in many remarkable achievements in the sector.