The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has taken its consumer enlightenment programme to communities in Nasarawa State to sensitise them about their rights, obligations, and privileges as part of its commitment to enlighten telecom service consumers.
Furthermore, the engagement was organised to inform telecom consumers about the Commission’s consumer-centric initiatives, which consumers can use to improve their telecom usage experience.
Amina Shehu, the NCC’s Director, Zonal Operations, said at the event, which took place recently in Keffi, Nassarawa State, that the engagement was in line with the NCC’s mandate to constantly educate consumers on telecom service-related issues bordering on improving their quality of service experience.
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Usman Abubakar, an Assistant Director in the department, addressed the participants on behalf of Shehu, saying the Commission had developed a series of engagement programmes to keep telecom consumers informed of developments in the telecoms sector in order to protect consumers from any unwholesome practises.
Thus, participants in the sensitization programme were educated on a variety of topics, including Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration, the redress process for consumer complaints arising from illegal deductions, and the illegal sale of improperly-registered cards, among others.
According to Abubakar, the Commission recently directed all subscribers to ensure that their SIM cards are linked to their National Identification Numbers (NIN), or their mobile lines will be disconnected.
“As a general rule in the Nigerian telecommunications industry today, every mobile subscriber must register his/her SIM card before activation, as there are penalties for the sale and purchase of fraudulently-registered SIM cards.” “We also urge you, as telecom customers, not to allow another person to use your NIN to register other people’s SIM cards,” he said.
Concerning complaint resolution, Abubakar told consumers that it is their right to be satisfactorily attended to by their service providers in order to resolve any service-related complaints they may have. He did, however, mention that if such a complaint was not satisfactorily resolved by their mobile network operator (MNO), consumers should use the NCC toll-free number 622 to report such a case for necessary escalation and resolution.
Abubakar also stated that the Commission’s Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 short code, which consumers can use to manage cases of unsolicited messages on their mobile phones, is another consumer-centric initiative. “Millions of telecom consumers have used this short code to stop or manage spam text message cases on their mobile devices, and we encourage you to do the same,” he added.
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During the event, the NCC team addressed a number of consumer complaints by obtaining the necessary information from the Commission, while others were advised to contact their service providers to resolve specific service-related issues. Some of the issues include automatic switching from one data plan to another without the consumer’s consent, as well as illegal airtime or data deductions.
