…As telecoms consumers knock service providers over poor service
By Olabisi Olaleye
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on Thursday said it has remitted about N133,426,062,786 to the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government in the last two years.
The Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, who revealed this in a statement yesterday noted that despite not having revenue generation as its primary mandate, the NCC has contributed significantly to the consolidated revenue of the Federal Government in the period under review.
“For instance, the Commission’s last remittance to the consolidated revenue fund, which was on June 30, 2017 was N12,705,154,120 and it came just less than 10 days after the NCC remitted the sum of N1,282,453,138 to the account.
“In the same vein, the NCC last year, transferred N20,000,598,873 and another N15,000,000,000 in March before remitting N29,475,867,407 and N16,500,000,000 in December of 2016.
“In 2015, however, the Commission remitted N23,512,316,450 in October after paying N6,856,182,132 in September of the same year. It is noteworthy also that the quarterly contribution of telecom sector to the GDP has been consistently impressive in the last two years,” he said.
Ojobo also quoted the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, as saying recently that the sector contributed N1.549 trillion to the GDP in the second quarter of 2017, representing 6.68 per cent increase from the first quarter’s (N1.452 trillion).
He explained that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report has also confirmed that the telecommunications sector, during the second quarter of 2017, contributed 9.5 per cent to the GDP in contrast to 9.1 per cent contribution in the first quarter of the year.
“We are very proud of the remarkable contributions the sector is making. Even in recent times when the whole economy was facing challenges, the sector has remained resilient and stable,” the NCC spokesperson quoted Dambatta as saying.
“Similarly, the nation’s quest to attain 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018, has received a major boost as ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development confirmed last year that Nigeria had achieved 21 per cent level of penetration from less than 10 per cent two years earlier.”
Meanwhile, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has said he intends to be the “Consumer Czar of the industry by protecting the interest of the consumer without compromising the interests of other stakeholders in the industry. This is because the consumer deserves all the credits for the past and indeed the future successes of this industry.
“It is really the investment of the consumer through patronage of services that has encouraged build out and supported service provision.”
He lamented that poor service delivery by network providers, quick to recycle numbers, drop calls, unsolicited messages, white elephant data promo, depletion of data and recharge units have contributed to the angry outbursts and complaints of telecommunications consumers.
Speaking at the 81st edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Lagos yesterday, the NCC boss called for fair treatment of telecom consumers, stressing they deserved better service delivery.
In a presentation titled, “Celebrating the Telecoms Consumer”, Ayoola Oke, a telecoms lawyer, regretted the cut-throat competition among service providers, pointing out that each one wants to show the other who the boss is to the detriment of the consumers.
He stated that from all perspectives consumers need compensation when service delivery is bad. “Every consumer wants availability of voice and data services with as little down time as possible at affordable value for money.”
Oke lamented the lack of unity and acrimonious competition between the operators, blaming it for the persistent poor quality of service (QoS) being experienced by consumers across the country.
Not less than 40 consumers from across the country made their grievances known at the event as all other network service providers except ntel got unkind words from customers who lamented they never got value for their money.