General News
The Pains of Operators’ Contact Centres
Last week was observed by corporate organizations as customers’ week. The week is used to celebrate customers of any organization.
In the country, apart from some banks that placed advert in the national dailies to acknowledge and express the importance of customers to the success of their business, no other sector did anything to either improve their customer experience or appreciated them.
One expected that telecommunications operators would have used the week to improve or excite their customers, not through promos but through effective customer experience at both call centres and customer care outlets.
The story of pains at call centres of all the operators’ call centres have not changed.
Few weeks back Sola Salako a columnist with Punch newspaper published an article she titled ‘MTN, where is my N3, 000 credit’. That report and MTN response to it exposed the pain that subscribers undergo in the hands of inexperienced call centres attendants.
More so, customer feedback channels provided by operators are not effective, when emails are sent on complaints, it is hardly responded to and call centres lines are so complex that one hardly gets any issue resolved as they are not meant to talk to humans.
The consumers of telecom products and services have many desires expected to be met. They want services available at all times and at every place.
The consumer wants the services to be of a good quality and affordable.
The consumer wants the operator to respond at all times when he or she needs attention, and to provide explanations whenever anything goes wrong.
The consumer wants to be protected at all times from being taken advantages of by service providers.
Just like consumers of any other services, the consumer of telecom services wants to be well treated.
The important aspect of all this rests on the preparedness of contact call centre attendants saddle with the responsibility of taking care of their customers.
The telecom industry no longer talks only about customer service instead; it is addressing the broader topic of the customer experience, which includes not just the conversation between customer service representatives and customers when something goes wrong, but the full range of customer contact from when a service is ordered to when it is delivered.
Telecommunications operators have two basic ways to attend to subscribers’ complaint on its network.
They establish customer care shops, which are centres designated for solving subscribers complaint that require them to bring either their phone or computer as the case may be in internet service physically to the shop for the problem to be resolved.
Products of such network operator are also sold at customer care centres. Another way through which complaints of subscribers are addressed by operators is through customer service contact centres. A customer service contact centre is a department in the operations of the network that addresses complaints through voice or email to a toll free line of the network.
Addressing Complaints
Having a functional customer care shop and contact centre is one leg of effort by operators to take care of subscribers, while training and monitoring of those working in these departments are another leg which to many, is the most important in customer service delivery.
A visit to some telecommunications operators’ customer care shops will explain the need for those workings at such centres who act as interface between the company and their subscribers to be well trained both in understanding the services being rendered by the operating company as well as the manner of treating customers.
Some of the ‘so called’ trained staff at most customer care centres of greater percentage of operators lack the required technical knowledge of some product at offer to talk of solving some problems that are brought to them.
This writer had issues with his data service of one of the Global System for mobile communications (GSM) operators, he called the customers service centre and the attendant that spoke to him after holding him on for 25 minutes could not resolve the issue but directed him to any customer care centre around his area.
When I got to the customer care shop, behold the problem was resolved through recharging the phone with any amount of airtime above N100.
Another subscriber that spoke to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek, narrated how he was unruly treated at a customer care shop of a telecommunications operator, when he went for a welcome back pack at the shop.
He was meant to stay two and half hours longer at the shop because he vehemently scolded the attendant at the shop.
These are few instances of pains that subscribes go through in the hands of unqualified customer care attendants at customer service centers of telecommunications operators.
The most worrisome of the woes of customers of most telecommunications service provider is their inability to resolve issues through their customer contact centres. A dial to most operators’ call centre especially for pre-paid customers will prove how inefficient they are. The Interactive Voice Response system you will be linked to will give you different options including talking to customer representative by dialing 0. When the subscriber dial 0 as requested the system will continue playing an endless music or advert jingle of the operator endless.
In spite of the ongoing competition in call tariff aimed at encouraging subscribers to sign-on to operator’s network, there should be concerted effort by all operators to make customer care service an experience one.
Police in Abuja have uncovered a criminal group making fake diplomatic and government number plates.
Ahmed Sanusi, commissioner of Police FCT, stated this during a press briefing on Friday.
He explained that criminals use these fake plates to dodge security checks and enter restricted areas.
The investigation started soon after Sanusi took office.
He noticed too many unauthorized cars driving around with official government and diplomatic tags.
“I immediately ordered a comprehensive investigation into this disturbing trend,” Sanusi said. He noted that these individuals use the plates as a cover to commit crimes and avoid arrest.
The police have already arrested several people caught using the fake plates.
They have also figured out who is making them.
The manufacturers operate outside Abuja, and police are actively hunting them down.
Sanusi kept their names secret so they would not flee.
He stressed that this is a highly profitable illegal business.
Buyers pay between N500,000 and N1.7 million for a single fake plate.
“This will tell you that they are making such huge expenditure because they have an agenda,” Sanusi explained.
“Now they will face punishment that is bigger than both the cost they incur and the agenda they are planning.”
The commissioner urged residents to report any cars with suspicious diplomatic plates.
He reminded the public that real diplomatic tags follow a very specific format.
A diplomatic number plate in Nigeria is a special vehicle identification tag issued to foreign embassies, high commissions, and accredited international diplomats.
Gavi has approved $500 million to strengthen Nigeria’s immunisation programme, primary healthcare services and long-term vaccine financing.
The move followed high-level discussions between Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, coordinating minister of Health and Social Welfare, ]and Dr. Sania Nishtar, chief executive officer, Gavi in Abuja.
The funding, approved under the Gavi 6.0 programme, will support Nigeria’s efforts to accelerate routine immunisation, sustain polio eradication, expand HPV vaccination, strengthen primary healthcare services, and improve long-term vaccine financing.
Speaking during the meeting, Pate said Nigeria was strengthening its partnership with Gavi to accelerate immunisation, expand primary healthcare services, and ensure sustainable financing for vaccines.
He welcomed Gavi’s country-focused reforms, including the introduction of a predictable five-year funding envelope.
Pate said the US$500 million allocation will enable Nigeria to plan more effectively and deliver life-saving vaccines to more children and vulnerable populations.
The minister also revealed that quarterly visits to primary healthcare centreshad increased from about 10 million in 2023 to more than 45 million, reflecting significant progress in revitalising the country’s primary healthcare system.
Pate welcomed the announcement of a US$600 million pledge by the United States government to Gavi, describing it as a strong endorsement of the alliance’s leadership and the global value of vaccines.
He also commended Nishtar for prioritising Nigeria and praised the closer coordination among Gavi, World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, World Bank, Gates Foundation, and other development partners, describing it as a model that has improved efficiency and aligned support with Nigeria’s health sector reforms.
The minister expressed appreciation to Gavi and its partners for their continued technical and financial support, while calling on state governments to invest more in healthcare and immunisation to complement federal efforts.
For many women, financial independence means the freedom to provide for their families and build a better future. Yet, this remains out of reach due to limited access to opportunities, business support, and secure payment solutions.
Like millions of women in Nigeria determined to be financially independent, Pricillia started with a single PalmPay POS terminal, and as an agent, every successful transaction provided a commission which brought her one step closer to achieving her dream.
Through consistency, discipline, and support from the payment platform, she reinvested her earnings and eventually opened her own provision store.
“I started as just a PalmPay agent with one POS. The consistency of the platform gave me the confidence to expand. With the income I earned, I was able to open my own provision shop.” Priscilla said.
For Priscilla, PalmPay was more than a payment platform. Its secure payment infrastructure gave her the confidence to serve her customers, build trust, and grow her income.
Today, Pricillia has joined the statistics of SMEs powering Nigeria’s economy and PalmPay continues to support her daily operations, helping her receive payments, as she works towards her next business milestone. Her journey is a reminder that when women have access to secure financial tools and opportunities, they can build lasting economic independence.
Speaking on Pricillia’s journey, Femi Hanson, Head of Marketing, PalmPay said: “Providing a secure platform that users can trust, whether for everyday payments or high-value transactions, is central to our vision of advancing financial inclusion. Priscilla’s story reflects our commitment to supporting the ambitions of Nigerians by providing a platform they can rely on to grow their finances. After all, seamless banking begins with security, and every successful transaction reinforces the trust our users place in us.”
Priscilla stands among thousands of PalmPay agents nationwide who are helping to expand financial access across Nigeria while earning commissions to create sustainable sources of income for themselves.
Every payment tells a story. It begins with trust, the confidence that your money is secure and that financial services are accessible. And when that opportunity reaches women, it creates ripple effects that transform families, strengthen communities, and drive economic growth.
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