| Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, said the commission has mandated telecom service providers to develop individual code of practice for better service delivery.
Danbatta disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the 84thedition of Telecom Consumer Parliament.
He said: “We have also mandated service providers to develop Individual Code of Practice as an offshoot of our Consumer Code of Practice Regulations 2007 in order to make sure consumers are treated well at care centres.
“Also, we monitor call centers and customer service centres of the operators to ensure availability of adequate and efficient facility to handle consumer complaints and requests without delay.
“We are working to ensure that operators serve consumers better by encouraging them to build more customer care centres accessible to their customers across the nation.”
Danbatta said the popular clause that “Consumer is King” was held in high esteem in the commission because everything NCC was doing focused on how the consumers could get maximum value for money spent.
According to him, consumers are the reason the regulator and the operators are in business.
He said: “Let me reiterate the fact that improving telecoms services has become critical not only to businesses but also to the entire national economy.”
He said access to telecom services has become an enabler of economic development as most people and industries rely on improved telecoms service delivery to carry out their services efficiently.
Danbatta said: “This is why it has become important that we, as regulator of the telecommunications industry, continuously hold forums such as TCP to engage relevant stakeholders to push the frontier of improved service delivery forward.
“Today’s TCP is, therefore, expected to critically examine, analyse and identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the whole gamut of service delivery improvement in our industry.
“I have no doubt that, given the calibre of participants at this gathering; justice shall be done to the theme.
“I also hope that at the end, we shall come up with specific and concrete recommendations on how we can better achieve improved service delivery across networks with a view to ensuring industry sustainability.
Felicia Onwuegbuchulam, Director Consumer Affairs Bureau NCC, said the commission realised that one of the ways to discuss telecoms consumer-related issues and challenges in the industry was through organising stakeholder forum such as the TCP.
She said the commission, apart from the forum, had other interface engagements like Consumer Outreach Programme and Consumer Town Hall Meeting, among others.
According to her, the forums are for effective engagement of telecoms consumers.
She said the TCP in particular had continued to be a high-level forum for face-to-face engagements with relevant stakeholders in the telecommunications industry.
She said: “Today, we have chosen a different theme: “Improving Telecom Service Delivery to Consumers: Key to Industry Sustainability.
“The topic is carefully chosen to look at the totality of issues around telecoms service delivery in order to ensure sustainability of the industry.”
Ayoola Oke, Chairman ICT Derivatives Ltd. in a paper he presented titled “Improving Telecom Service Delivery to Consumers: Key to Industry Sustainability” said the telecom industry must adopt a consumer-centrist approach to it undertaking.
Oke said placing the consumer first in its decision making was key to industry’s sustainability.
He said: “The consumer is central to any industry without the consumer, there will be no industry and improving service delivery should be paramount.
“There is need for network service providers to shift the focus of competition away from network infrastructure to customer service in order to benefit the consumers.”
Some of the participants told the News Agency of Nigeria that the forum was a welcome development as it gave them opportunity to discuss issues concerning their network providers.
Yusuf Zulu, of Estate links Ltd, said the event was educative as consumers got to know some basic codes from NCC and how to file a complaint if you have a issues with your service provider.
Zulu said the forum also enlightened consumers in knowing how to approach NCC and get feedbacks.
Akpa Emeka said the forum would help NCC to get inputs from consumers on how the telecom sector should operate. |
