The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has restated its commitment to consulting stakeholders on issues affecting telecommunication services deployments and developments, in line with its culture of inclusiveness, collaboration and partnership as predicated in its strategic focus.
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Garba Danbatta, gave the assurance when a delegation of Food Basket Foundation International (FBFI), led by its Chief Executive Officer, Funmi Akinyele, paid a courtesy visit to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The EVC, who was represented by the commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, maintained that the NCC was committed to revving up its regulatory drives in the telecommunication sector, particularly providing the solid infrastructure and general industry regulations.
In her remarks, the FBFI’s CEO while commending the commission’s regulatory strides, highlighting its effort in ensuring there are regulations, frameworks and guidelines to guard the telecoms sector and online civic space, expressed concerns about the state of the social media with uncontrolled content.
Akinyele said the visit to the regulator was aimed at exploring areas of the FBFI’s collaboration in its programme with the commission to protect the digital civic space by combating misinformation and disinformation while mitigating risks to the digital civic space to ensure electoral integrity before, during and after the 2023 general elections.
She noted that the initiative was one of FBFI’s projects, tagged ‘Safeguarding Digital Civic Space for Electoral Integrity (SDSEI)’.
Responding, Muoka told the team that the Commission was not responsible for the content of the social media as there are other government agencies responsible for such matters, pointing out, however, that the NCC has engaged in several aspects of protection of the users of the Internet in furtherance of its statutory mandate.
He listed some of the initiatives as including Child Online Protection, COP, deployment of the Computer Security Incident Response Team, NCC-CSIRT, set up to monitor cyber-attacks in the Nigerian cyberspace, as well as the activities of the Commission’s department of New Media and Information Security set up to address issued of cybersecurity.
The director said: “We have tried not to be a closed organization. We give lots of premiums to consultations and collaborations, especially in the areas that will ensure that the consumers and stakeholders understand what is going on and to make input that enriches the quality of regulations, as well as being able to access information they may require to safeguard themselves and the society.”
He also urged the group to join the NCC in carrying out enlightenment campaigns to educate telecom consumers on their roles and responsibilities in order to use the Internet and telecommunication platform safely to counter misuse and abuse.
Photo Caption
L-R: Nnena Ukoha, Head, Corporate Communications, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Reuben Muoka, Director, Public Affairs, NCC; Dr. Funmi Akinyele, Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Food Basket Foundation International (FBFT) and Chairperson, Safeguarding Online Civic Space Group; Chidinma Okpara, Project Officer, FBFT and Nafisa Rugga, Head, Digital Media, NCC, during a courtesy visit by FBFT to the Commission in Abuja recently.
