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Tag: NCC

  • Senate moves against telecoms over dropped calls

    Senate moves against telecoms over dropped calls

    Worried by the growing cases of mobile telephone dropped calls, the Senate has ordered investigation into causes of the problem, even as it chided the GSM service providers for inefficiency and poor service delivery.

    The Senate also warned the service providers against unsolicited calls and SMS that flood subscribers’ telephone lines on a daily basis, even as it kicked against illegal deductions of airtime for frivolous product subscriptions without the subscribers’ consent.

    At its plenary on Tuesday, the upper legislative chamber mandated its standing committees on Communications and Trade and Investment to investigate the matter.

    It also urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria, (SON) and other regulatory agencies to invoke the appropriate sanctions against the service providers.

    Urging the agencies to protect the millions of mobile telephone subscribers in the country, the Senate said the telecom firms must not be allowed flout extant agreements and regulations on consumer protection.

    The lawmakers further urged the relevant regulatory agencies to ensure refund to subscribers for disrupted calls and unsolicited airtime deductions.

    According to the senators, the regulatory agencies should exercise more control regarding the usage of data bundles to ensure regulatory and operational efficiency in service delivery.

    The resolutions were made following a motion sponsored by Senator Andy Uba (Anambra South).

    Presenting the motion, Uba protested the loss of billions of Naira by millions of Nigerian subscribers on a daily basis, as a result of what he described as unwholesome practices by the telecom firms.

    Uba said subscribers not only experience disturbing rate of dropped calls but also get incomprehensible speech and voice quality “that sounds like speaking from the bottom of a fish tank”.

    The lawmaker also expressed worry over congestion on the various networks leading to poor audio reception and poor delivery on the various data bundles.

    The Senate specifically fingered the major network providers like MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Globacom for expanding their network coverage beyond what their existing infrastructure could conveniently accommodate.
     

  • Operators to NCC: we ‘re dying

    Operators to NCC: we ‘re dying

    Telecoms operators have urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to save the industry from imminent collapse.

    They warned that the factors crippling their operations could also derail the National Broadband PLan (NBP) of the Federal Government, if not checked.

    The telcos, which described themselves as ‘Tier II’ operators, have notable broadband companies, such as Smile Communications, nTel, Spectranet, Swift Networks and others. They made the call during a visit to the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta in his office, Abuja, at the weekend.

    In the delegation were the  Managing Director, Smile Communications, Mr. Godfrey Efeurhobo, Managing Director, Spectranet, David Venn,  Director Regulatory and External Affairs of nTel, Mr. Osondu Nwokoro, and  Chief Commercial Officer, Swift Networks,Mr. Chuma Okoye.

    They warned the regulator of a looming systemic industry failure which will have catastrophic effect on the socio-economic development of the country.

    According to them, the industry is in a situation where all operators are finding it difficult to justify the required investment case for additional capital expenditure (capex) for network capacity expansion to improve quality of service to customers.

    They further noted that the network operating expenditure (opex) of operations have sky rocketed in the last 15 months by over 85 per cent with revenues remaining relatively flat.  Most operators, they lamented, are currently struggling with meeting obligations to their suppliers particularly network vendors, tower firms and servicing loan obligations.

    This worrisome trend, they noted, extend to even some of the Tier I Operators. According to them, a storm is raging in the industry which if unchecked, will result in the collapse of key players in the industry.

    “This is because the domino effect of bankruptcy of any of the Tier I or Tier II Operators on the entire ecosystem particularly, banking, employment, corporate and SMEs constitutes a major threat to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the current administration. Such bankruptcy and consequent collapse will also substantially lessen competition with its attendant deleterious impact on consumer choice and attainment of the Broadband objectives of the country,” they warned in a statement yesterday.

    The CEOs stated that the NCC’s declaration of 2017 as the Year of the Telecoms Consumer can be derailed by failure of operators to deliver on the expected quality of service particularly on data throughput and experience due to the weak investment case to support additional capex as a result of deteriorating market conditions.

  • Long road to NCC’s consumer centric renaissance

    Long road to NCC’s consumer centric renaissance

    Last week in Lagos, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) gathered all the stakeholders in the telecoms industry for the second leg of the launch of its 2017 Year of the Nigerian Telecoms Consumers campaign. While the mobile network operators (MNOs), Lagos State and consumer rights advocacy groups endorsed the initiative, stakeholders say legacy industry challenges need to be addressed, reports LUCAS AJANAKU

    Lagos-based barber, John Eze, is not happy with his service provider. His grouse is that he gets unsolicited text messages and calls marketing one service or the other on the network. Frustrated, he complained to a friend who told him he could stop the menace by confining such numbers to ‘blacklist’ in which case, he alone would be able to make calls to the numbers, not the numbers making calls to him.

    He acceded to that suggestion and for some time, he appeared to get a temporary elixir. But one day, he opened the ‘blacklist’ and discovered almost 310 numbers consisting the 11-digit regular telephone numbers and short codes.

    He was so angry and said to himself: “So this is how many times I have been distracted from my work. Sometimes, the calls come so late at night that they wake me up from sleep. At other times, they come when I am expecting important calls from my customers and family members. Sometimes, when I see missed calls, I try to return the calls because my kids often use their friend’s numbers to ‘flash’ me from school so I could call them back. I get disappointed when I discover that the calls actually came from mobile network operator.”

    Eze’s experience is but one of such end users of telecoms services pass through in the country be it in voice call or mobile data services.

    Inundated with a barrage of complaints, the NCC declared year 2017 as the Year of Nigerian Telecoms Consumers. Fresh interventions and regulatory insights on telecoms consumers’ right and protection were rolled out during the second leg of the flag off the campaign in Lagos.

    More often MNOs, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers (value added services or VAS providers) inundate subscribers with telemarketing and unwanted messages which subscribers did not bargain for.

    Over time there was no choice or options to opt out, stop or control the kind of messages that they want to be receiving on their phone from MNOs. Attempt to solve this and other complaints with the  operators has been a tug of war for the over 154 million subscribers in the industry.

     

    How it started

     

    About 20 months ago when Prof Umar Danbatta assumed the leadership of the NCC as the Executive Vice Chairman, one of the very first steps he took was to constitute a committee on quality of service (QoS) to improve consumers experience on the network.

    He believes the consumers made all the success stories telecoms sector has recorded in the nation’s economy since its liberalisation in 2001.

    Last year, he launched an 8-point agenda which will drive the Commission’s activities until 2020. Item no six on the agenda reads: Protect and Empower Consumers’.

    He mandated the Consumers Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the Commission to ensure the protection of the rights, privileges and interests of telecoms consumers, including the physically challenged groups, through adequate information dissemination programmes, effective policies and strategies that promote effective and efficient service delivery.

    This, however, gave birth to the national campaign of the Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer which the commission flagged off in Abuja on March 15 and subsequently in Lagos on Wednesday May 17.

    The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, Chief officers and top managements from MNOs, ISPs, VAS and large telecoms consumers in the state were at the Blue Roof of the Lagos Television, Agidingbi to endorse the industry regulator’s year of consumer campaign.

     

    Why Lagos campaign?

     

    Quoting figures from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the first quarter of 2016, Prof Dmabatta said Lagos voice subscriber base stood at 19.04million representing 12.8 per cent of the country’s subscribers and 12.62million internet subscription or 13.65 per cent.

    He said: “The state is a home to many of the key players in the telecoms sector; so it is understandable that it has been selected as the flag off city after the major event in Abuja. The NCC 2017 Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer is remarkable because the consumer is in the center stage. We must also remember that these consumers together have made all the success stories we speak about possible in the telecom industry today.

    “So, telecom consumer campaign focuses on the 2442 Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Service Code, the 622 toll free complaints line, Quality of Service, QoS and concerns about the electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation.

    “The rates at which consumers receive telemarketing and unwanted messages from MNOs and ISPs would reduce drastically as consumers can now activate DND short code using the 2442 toll and forwarding unresolved complaints to NCC using 622 toll-free lines.”

    From a customer base of slightly over 400, 000 in the height of NITEL’s glory, “we now have a combined subscriber base of over 150 million across the country. This boom and massive jump in mobile telephony have brought with it several challenges especially in terms of reliable service, network upgrade, expansion and maintenance, and increasing demand for capital expenditure injection into the telecom industry.

    “In the midst of these, the average consumer runs the risk of just becoming a number. This danger therefore means that the customer suffers often times in silence in the hands of the operators primarily in the areas of dropped calls, failed calls often called Call Set Up Success Rate (CSSR) among others; this is exactly why this year is dedicated to the consumer.

     

    Response to DND code

     

    Prof Dambatta said two months after the national campaign was flagged off, there has been progress report in the activation of the ‘DND’ short code using 2442. He said more than one million consumers activated the 2442 DND code within two months, while more subscribers reported their unresolved complaints using NCC’s 622 toll-free lines in the same period.

    The NCC is charged with ensuring that the average consumer gets the best satisfaction possible from the use of the line he has acquired. Thus, mindful of the pains and challenges of a growing economy and a rapidly developing industry, NCC intends to strike a balance. A balance albeit in favour of the consumer who most times is at the receiving end.”

    Also speaking, NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, said the initiative was leveraging on the two key components of improving QoS; informing and empowering consumers.

    He said the NCC has already deployed several activities in its strategic plan to run a successful year of the consumer campaign with the support of the operators.

    “Our goal is to make the consumer experience of the average Nigerian better. The drivers of the NCC 2017 Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumer are the 2442 DND Service Code, the 622 toll free complaints line, Quality of Service, QoS and concerns about the electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation. These are the areas the information provided in the course of the campaign would focus on,” he said.

     

    MNOs, ISPs react

     

    Mobile network representatives present at the flag-off campaign in Lagos took turn to share their positions on the consumer initiative. They applauded the initiative and said it could not have come at a more auspicious time. The NCC had met with the MNOs on different occasions in Abuja on the subject matter.

    They, however, assured consumers at the Lagos forum that the Do-Not-Disturb code is active on their networks and they have expanded their customers’ services networks in order to give adequate attentions to consumers’ complaints and challenges in the shortest possible time and best service delivery without any need to complain to the regulator.

    MTN, GLO, Etisalat, Airtel, Smile, Ntel, Spectranet, among others, sent representatives while advocacy associations including National Association of Telecoms Consumers (NATCOM) Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) among others, were also in attendance.

     

    Why Lagos supports NCC

     

    The Lagos State House of Assembly commended the NCC for tagging 2017- Year of the Nigerian Telecom Consumers which emphasises the protection and education of telecom consumers.

    Its Speaker, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, who spoke on the occasion, said NCC’s regulatory expertise has paid off in the industry that boasts of about 155million subscribers with about 20million of them domiciled in Lagos.

    Represented by a member the House, Mr. Tunde Braimoh, the speaker said the state would support initiatives that will lead to consumers’ education and improved service delivery among operators. He said the House will not shy away from issues related to telecoms activities and the stakeholders, because of the relevance to the affairs of the populace.

    He said: “NCC has done very well with regards to issues on consumer protection and the regulatory initiatives that lead to improved quality service delivery to the people. As the representatives of the people, Lagos State House of Assembly will not shy away from telecoms activities, because they touch the affairs of our people.

    “However, we are being inundated with petitions regarding issues in the industry which informed our desire for easier channels to communicate with the regulator in finding lasting solutions to these challenges. Having said that, it is commendable that NCC’s regulations have paid off; for without such, there wouldn’t have been improvement on quality of service. We believe that the theme for this campaign will further endear NCC as consumer friendly regulator”.

    The speaker also urged the NCC to mandate mobile network operators to also launch consumer products beneficial even to the downtrodden.

     

    Hurdles

     

    ATCON:

    The President, ATCON, Olusola Teniola, praised the NCC for trying to address issues raised by at least 153 consumers, including its officials and staffers of the telcos. He said the regulator is trying to raise awareness about which code to use when they have challenges and which department to contact should their challenges remain unattended to. “This is commendable because it never used to be like this,” Teniola who is former CEO of IS Internet Solutions and now Client Partner, Detecon International, a subsidiary of Deutsch Telekom Group, Germany.

    He, however, said the legacy challenges that have threatened the industry must be addressed for a win-win situation for all the stakeholders in the telecoms industry project. He said while there are technical challenges facing the sector, there are others that non-technical such as the foreign (forex) palaver. He said for the telcos to meet the International Telecoms Union (ITU’s) benchmark of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which the NCC is deploying, the challenges must be addressed.

    He said Prof Dambatta has admitted that for there to be seamless service delivery in the country, no fewer than between 70,000 and 80,000 base transmission stations (BTS) will be needed. According to him, to meet the current huge deficit, more towers would have to be built with forex to meet the 30 per cent broadband penetration of next year according to the National Broadband Plan (NBP). The  less than 30,000 BTS in the country are congested to take existing traffic, adding that there is need to resolve the logjam on the right of way (RoW) to build more towers and optic fibre cables to address the huge demand.

    He said there is need for the NCC to collaborate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on easing forex access by telcos, collaborate with security agencies on tekecoms equipment vandalism, collaborate with state governors on RoW and multiple taxation else the situation will be akin to beating up a child without giving him the room for improvement. “You will end up killing the child,” he said.

     

    NATCOMS

     

    NATCOMS President, Deolu Ogunbanjo also commended the NCC for the initiative. Like Teniola, he said the NCC should make the CBN see sense in giving telecoms equipment a new window to access forex. He said though the bank is encouraging SMEs to access forex, same gesture should be extended to the telecoms sector because of its enabling role to other sectors of the economy.

  • $1.2b debt: NCC, Mubadala Group, CBN in talks

    $1.2b debt: NCC, Mubadala Group, CBN in talks

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday assured that rift between Etisalat Nigeria and the consortium of lenders that provided facility of $1.2billion to the telco will soon be over soon.

    Its Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Mr Sunday Dare who gave the assurance in Lagos during an interactive session with reporters, said officials of Etisalat’s parent firm, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mubadala Group, who are in the country,  have met with the NCC and are scheduled to meet with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over an amicable settlement of the deal.

    Mr Dare said the likelihood of a take over of the telco by its lenders have been ‘put in abeyance’, adding that there is light at the dark end of the tunnel.

    He said the NCC has been able to secure a priority foreign exchange (forex) window for telcos from the apex bank but with a caveat that the forex accessed would be used for the purpose it was given to avoid capital flight and forex round-tripping.

    Meanwhile, the NCC said telecoms sector contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter  of this year rose to nine per cent.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, added that since the liberalisation of the industry, it has added about N15 trillion to the economy.

    Danbatta, who explained that the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP increased from eight per cent in Q4 of 2016 to nine per cent in the year, noted that since his assumption of office as the EVC about 18 months ago, the industry has been adding between N1.43 trillion and N1.45 trillion to the economy quarterly.

    Prof Danbatta admitted that the quality of service (QoS) offered by the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) has not been impressive, adding that the telcos have been given the marching order to improve or get sanctioned.

    According to him, the continued drop in service quality has really created a huge gap between consumers and the MNOs, “reason for some drop in subscriptions.”

    He said the commission will review the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set for the operators to meet, with a resolve that any of the MNOs that failed to meet up will be adequately sanctioned.”

    Speaking on continuos drop in telephone subscription in the country, Prof Danbatta said subscribers are migrating from 3G to 4G/LTE. “So they rather use WhatsApp to communicate and even make free calls. Consumers are moving away from high call and text message tariffs to a more cheaper and free services,” he said.

  • Minister, NCC boss seek investment in ICT infrastructure

    Minister, NCC boss seek investment in ICT infrastructure

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama and Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Umar Dambatta have urged private sector operators to invest in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to bridge the country’s infrastructure deficit.

    Onyeama and Dambatta said unless the huge infrastructure deficit in Nigeria and Africa was addressed, achieving the Smart Africa Initiative would be difficult.

    They spoke on the sideline of Transform Africa Summit 2017, in Kigali, Rwanda.

    The focus of the summit was developing “smart cities”.

    The initiative, aims at leveraging technology solutions to improve efficiency of cities, has seen Rwanda rolling out a number of them such as WiFi in public areas, public transport vehicles as well as cashless payment systems in public transport.

    The initiative is backed by 11 African countries and more nations are expected to join.

    Onyeama maintained that lack of infrastructure was one of the impediments that must be addressed for Nigeria and Africa to develop smart cities.

    The minister, who stressed the need for investment in the ICT infrastructure to achieve the goal, said the Public Private Partnership (PPP) was essential to driving technology in Nigeria.

    He said: “As it was said, there is no one technology that is necessarily going to overcome some of these challenges of infrastructure.

    “What it just requires and, I think this is what came out clearly, is partnership among government, the private sector and the academia.

    “And together, these three can begin to put in place all the building blocks to have smart cities, including in Nigeria.”

    Onyeama said Nigeria succeeded in the communication sector as a result of PPP.

    He said Nigeria in the last 20 years was able to engage the private sector into providing phone lines to about 100 million people as against the 400,000 telephone lines that were there to serve 150 million people.

    Dambatta stated that inadequate infrastructure was the problem facing Nigeria’s ICT development.

    He was concerned that the Smart Africa initiative would not be realised without necessary infrastructure, such as sufficient electricity supply.

    “As a regulator, I experience some challenges of how we can drive the smart initiative. One major challenge is that of infrastructure.

    “Nigeria has about a population of 180 million, equals to the population of all the countries in the sub-Saharan Africa.

    “Without adequate electricity supply, Africa would remain a dark continent,” he said.

  • NCC to sanction telcos for poor services

    NCC to sanction telcos for poor services

    The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said is set to sanction telcos who are performing below the industrial average with consistently poor service delivery.

    Its Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Dambatta, made the threat during an investigative session by the Ahmed Abu- headed House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee investigating  activities of telecoms equipment, service companies and vendors in the country.

    According to him, the key performance indicators (PKIs) of the NCC when applied to the services of the telcos showed that they were performing below par. This got to the highest level especially in the months of October, November, December 2016, he said.

    “We invited the operators and laid bare what was happening to the quality of service which has degraded to unacceptable level,” he said, adding that NCC will be taking compliance action to compel the service providers to provide acceptable standard of service delivery.

    “The NCC is going to impose sanction, and there will be ranking on the quality of service  so Nigerians will know which to patronise,” he added.

    He however noted that the service providers have complained of lack of infrastructure, denial of right of way and the dearth of foreign exchange to procure telecoms equipment.

    While speaking on job losses in the sector, Prof Dambatta said though the Commission was concerned, its mandate does not empower it to dabble into labour issues. “ It’s outside the purview of the Commission. It’s regulated by a different Ministry, we liaise with the Ministry of Labour and Employment,” he said.

    The chairman of the committee said the committee has already written to the Central Bank of Nigeria  (CBN) to ascertain the issue of repatriated funds by telcos and others.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige is also to appear before the committee to explain aspects that has to do with job losses in the sector, he said.

    The committee is also mandated to investigate the audited accounts of all registered telecoms and IT companies; evidence of compIiance with statutory obligations, frequencies monitoring report for GSM and microwave as well as dropped calls.

  • BPRS scorecard on NCC

    BPRS scorecard on NCC

    Nigeria’s leading agency and ‘engine room’ for integrated reform implementation, co-ordination and harmonisation, the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPRS), has released its report on the Organisational Assessment of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Though the agency gave Platinum Rating to the telecoms sector regulator, it nonetheless made some recommendations to improve service delivery, LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    Very strong business organisational structure, policies and practices that facilitate effective and efficient service delivery were some of the high points the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) considered before naming the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) tops in institutional work processes in the country.

    Its Director-General, Dr. Joe Abah, presented the report and plaque to the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the NCC Headquarters in Abuja. Highlights of the report:

     

    Strengths

     

    Structures, roles,

    responsibilities

     

    BPSR, in the report, noted that NCC business organisational structure and plans support the organisation’s purpose and service delivery. NCC policies and practices facilitate the delivery of effective and efficient service delivery.

    Accountabilities and responsibilities are appropriately set, clearly documented and well understood throughout the Commission. Example is the development of the Standardised Operating Procedure (SPO) manuals for the Commission’s 19 departments.

    NCC measures its performance accurately and responsibilities of reviewing and reporting performance assigned to named officers, the report added.

     

    Governance

     

    NCC Board sets strategy and performance goals which are aligned to government priorities and policy directives.

    It said a system has been established to ensure that all decisions relating to the use, commitment, exchange or transfer of resources involving board members are documented and records of transactions maintained to ensure proper accountability

    NCC strategic objectives are prioritised for potential impact using standardised principles including the balance score card, its vision, strategy and impacts complement other sector organisational direction; staff can articulate what the Commission wants to achieve, its role and purpose; strategy is considered by the management team regularly throughout the year with a sense of where it is going and how it should get there.

     

    Collaboration,

    partnership

     

    The report stated that NCC has strong sector relationships, understands and is responsive to stakeholders’ needs. Its mechanism for capturing stakeholders’ contribution is quite robust while its strategy and services complement those of other sector agencies, and where appropriate, sector agencies work jointly.

    “NCC has put in place strong partnership agreement including Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to manage collaborative relationships with other sector agencies,” BPSR said.

     

    Managing organisational

    performance

     

    NCC monitors and assesses its performance and uses performance information to improve policy, regulatory intervention and service delivery while it periodically measures public perception of its performance and impact to provide an indication of the effectiveness of its strategies.

     

    Managing staff

    performance

     

    NCC demonstrates that formal performance management processes are clearly understood, consistently applied and deemed by all staff to be a valuable activity; demonstrates that individuals’ performance targets are clearly aligned with the team, business unit and organisational overall performance targets.

    NCC is able to demonstrate how it rewards and recognises high performance, and this approach either maintains or encourages higher levels of performance among teams or individuals.

    It  has a strong up-to-date Assets and Group Life Insurance Policy to protect the organisation, its assets, vehicles, people and service.

    It also has a comprehensive plan for performance management (PM) including human resource management plan (HR Plan).

     

    Safety, technology use

     

    NCC has well understood and consistently applied workplace safety practices that demonstrably facilitate a safe working environment; it has developed a health and safety policy, including a safety manual. Although the health and safety policy is yet to be signed, it will be useful when fully implemented.

    NCC carries out regular evaluation of the state of infrastructure. It has developed back-up site for its services in case of any risk and evaluates the state of its infrastructure every two years, and when the need arises.

    On information management, BPSR noted that the regulator has an ICT policy based on business needs, and the strengths and weaknesses of available ICT options. NCC technology system cost effectively supports current and predicted service delivery.

     

    Financial management

     

    NCC ensures that effective systems and procedures comply with relevant accounting policies and standards; managers including members of governing board and senior management staff know their financial obligations, meet them and understand the implications of their decisions.

    It has developed a comprehensive internal audit manual that is rigorously applied to monitor and evaluate financial transactions; operational processes and procedures; and proposes improvement to the organisation; it appoints an external auditor in accordance with extant rules and regulation that audit and report on the finances of the organisation.

     

    Procurement, managing change

     

    According to BPSR, NCC has adequate systems, procedures and experienced personnel responsible for executing its procurement activities in line with extant procurement procedure.

    It has a central store at Mbora, Abuja where all procurement records are archived electronically from loss.

    It said the regulator has in place structure for managing change along its desired strategic objectives.

     

     

    Recommendations

     

    The governing board should develop a formal code of conduct defining standards of behaviour to which individual governing board members and employees of NCC subscribe and uphold.

    • Ensure that the governing board establishes an anti-corruption policy with an entrenched whistle blower mechanism.
    • Ensure that the institutional mechanism for junior staff to fearlessly and regularly contribute ideas and experiences are active and effective.
    • Consider including performance data such as information on output and outcomes goals in budget documents
    • Though challenging, the Commission should strive to maintain budget variance (on both revenue or expenditure) at a maximum of five per cent.
    • Make financial reporting more frequent and on time at the meetings of the senior management and governing board to reflect on progress towards goals and to adjust strategy as required.
    • The ‘Enterprise Risk Management Policy’ which the Commission is developing to address the issue of policy on assets should not be generic but specific in nature. The policy should also cover physical assets including buildings.
    • Articulate the main risk NCC faces; including areas of financial risk, and prepare contingency plans to mitigate risk associated with changes in organisational income and funding streams.
    • Ensure that the Commission’s annual procurement plan and general procurement notice are published in the organisation website and Federal Tender Journal.
    • Ensure that the Commission’s procurement staff and other staff of the organisation engage in procurement activities signed an affidavit regarding their commitment not to engage in practices involving a conflict of interest and adherence to the provisions of the PPA 2007
    • Ensure that a robust mechanism is put in place to facilitate regular evaluation of the Commission’s state of infrastructure.
    • Establish a dedicated unit to serve as a clearing house on anti-corruption matters in the Commission.
    • Although the Commission rated itself strong in the area of maintaining an accurate and up-to-date inventory of assets and a functional mechanism for annual planning and budgeting for asset maintenance and replacement, the BPSR validated assessment rated this statement of good practice as a ‘Developing Area’ because this task was last undertaken in 2012.
    • The Commission should ensure that this activity is given prominence in its annual planning and budget for asset maintenance and replacement.

  • NCC seeks fight against cybercrimes, others

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advised the Federal Government and, indeed, other stakeholders in the information communications technology (ICT) field to focus attention on combatting cybercrimes and cyber security.

    Its Chief Executive Officer/Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Dambatta, who gave the advice in Lagos in his opening remarks at this year’s edition of Beacon of ICT Distinguished Lecture/Awards Series at Eko Hotel and Suites, at the weekend, said the youth have embraced technology while government institutions are yet to do same.

    Represented by Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, he said focus should be on developing the indigenous software ecosystem and other platforms that would allow the country to fully tap into the limitless opportunities provided by technology.

    He said: “Nigeria’s ICT initiatives must focus on cybercrimes and cyber security, indigenous software development, digital multimedia platforms, amongst others.

    “While our youths  have fully embraced ICT, our government, institutions both public and private are still in the process of adopting ICT in their operations and activities. Yet, the future lies in ICT. Nigeria must make deliberate policies that will accelerate ICT penetration. Our educational curricular must integrate ICT at all levels of education and our systems and institutions must be brought into compliance by training and re-training our people.

    “Thus, we must all see it as a privilege to be part of not just the event, but share in the experience and great possibilities of ICT revolution, revolution with no barriers or frontiers. Nigeria, though already plugged into the ICT ecosystem, is yet to harvest fully the dividends of the ICT revolution sweeping across the world.”

    He said the government has made some commendable strides in adopting ICT in various aspects of its operations, however, a more systematic and accelerated approach will yield more dividends; create more opportunities and jobs for the economy and the teeming youth.

    He said: “NCC is in the forefront of providing education in telecommunications and IT spheres. At the NCC we have embraced ICT. Beyond that, we have invested in it through the establishment of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) established in 2004 with campuses in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Enugu, is modeled after similar ICT universities and institutions and might be in its way to becoming Nigeria’s first ICT university. DBI’s ADAPTI programme has substantially improved the IT skills of many students, public civil servants and members of the private sector and has trained 6000 since its establishment.

    “We are mindful that ICT has today become a one-stop shop for modern tools of development, for innovation, for employment opportunities and indeed for a smarter world. As the world races towards the 5-G revolution and the internet of things, IoT (Internet of Things), Nigeria must embrace fully the opportunities offered by ICT.”

    Speaking on Empowering youth through digital citizenship, the Managing Director, Sidmach Technologies, Mr. Peter Arogundade, said the theme should have been Empowering digital natives to transform to digital citizens. He identified three players in the digital space which include digital natives, digital immigrants and digital citizens.

    He said there was shallow digital literacy, adding that the space is still bedevilled by affordability, illiteracy, language barrier, disparities between rural/urban access and others, adding that there was need to put devices in the hands of the kids.

    He also stressed the need to expand digital citizenship education to include social justice, define and address internet governance and address the digital exclusion orchestrated by unserved and underserved areas. According to him, though the NCC, through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), has been trying to bridge the gap, much still needed to be done.

  • NCC destroys illegal equipment worth N8.75m in Enugu

    Operatives of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC) at the weekend in Enugu clamped down on illegal broadcast hideouts, destroying infringing broadcast equipment estimated at N8.75million.

    The operation was carried out in Achara Layout, Coal Camp, Zik Avenue and Agbani Road areas of Enugu metropolis.

    It was facilitated by MCN/DSTV whose right in the broadcast of some contents was being infringed upon by illegal distributors/pirates who use their Single Unit Dwelling (SUD) meant for private use to connect to other unsuspecting individuals and charge them monthly.

    The illegal action, according to the NCC zonal manager, Mrs. Ngozi Okeke was causing a huge financial loss to MCN/DSTV.

    The operation tagged “Strike Force” was coordinated by Copyright Inspectors, the police, staff of MCN/DSTV and led by Mcfoy Akachukwu.

  • At last! NCC to license MCSN as collecting society

    At last! NCC to license MCSN as collecting society

    Following an extensive investigation into the refusal of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to approve Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) as a collecting society, the Federal Government, through the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, has directed the NCC, to “issue with immediate effect, an approval by way of license to the MCSN to operate as a collecting society for the purpose of the Copyright Act.”
    In the directive, the AGF stated that from his findings, he agrees with the resolutions of the National Assembly that; “the continued refusal to register the MCSN is casting the Commission as having compromised and pursuing only the interest of a particular section of the industry.”
    The directive further states; “In considering applications for grant of license under the Act and its regulations, the Commission should desist from giving consideration to extraneous matters.
    “The Copyright Act should be subject to review.”
    Following the findings, the AGF thereby invoked the power conferred on him by Section 50 of the Copyright Act and as the Chief Law Officer of the Republic directed the NCC to comply with his earlier directive to issue with immediate effect, an approval by way of licence to MCSN to operate as a collecting society.
    The Minister further directed the “NCC to withdraw any pending cases/appeals, criminal or otherwise instituted by the Commission in all courts.”
    When contacted for his reaction, the Chairman of MCSN, Orits Williki, stated that he was short of words. He further expressed gratitude to the Honourable Minister and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.