Bida Hosts NCC’s Consumer Town Hall Meeting in Bida

The historic town of Bida in Niger State yesterday hosted a spectrum of telecom stakeholders for the 33rd Consumer Town Hall Meeting (CTM) organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission. The event took place at the Federal Polytechnic Bida.

Ismail Adedigba, Deputy Director Consumer Affairs Bureau at NCC who represented Abdullahi Maikano, Director Consumer Affairs said NCC’s determination to empower the telecom consumer through information sharing, education and dialogue explains “the introduction of outreach programmes such as the CTM, Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) and the Consumer Outreach Programme (COP); as well as the launch of a dedicated Consumer Web Portal; the Consumer Affairs Bureau Twitter account; and the robust, consistent interaction with the consumer through the Commission’s social media assets which include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.”

He added that the NCC would ensure that consumers receive clear, complete and accurate information on services they subscribe to, to enable them to make informed decisions on products and services offered. Adedigba urged consumers to take advantage of the numerous consumer-centric channels set up by the Commission to improve the quality of their experiences with telecom service provision.

The event, which focused   “Information and Education as Catalysts for Consumer Protection”, encapsulates the importance the Commission has placed on educating the Nigerian Telecom Subscribers. It is quite striking how participants at Bida also used the opportunity to raise issues of concern to them. Representatives telecom service providers and staff of NCC also responded appropriately to the issues raised by the consumers during the Q and A session. Participants were also informed of the benefits activating the Do Not Disturb Code 2442, and the Toll Free Line 622 among other initiatives of the Commission designed to improve the experience of telecom Consumers.

The CTM is one of the original tripodal consumer outreach programmes instituted by the NCC that bring telecom consumers, service providers and the regulator (NCC) together in a discourse to address telecom consumer issues. The other two - Telecom Consumer Parliament and Consumer Outreach Programme also subsist but hold in more metropolitan centres across the country.

However, following NCC's declaration of 2017 as Year of the Telecom Consumer in March, two other consumer/stakeholders engagement programmes - Consumer Conversation and Campus Voices - were introduced to increase the platforms of engagement in more towns and on the campuses.

NCC