EXCITING NEWS: TNG WhatsApp Channel is LIVE…
Subscribe for FREE to get LIVE NEWS UPDATE. Click here to subscribe!
The Nigerian Communication Commission(NCC) has said it is partnering security agencies and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to curtail criminal assaults on the nation’s telecommunication operations.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, disclosed this today during a one day sensitisation workshop for law enforcement agencies on telecommunication issues organised by NCC in Keffi, Nassarawa State.
Danbatta who was represented by the NCC’s Head of Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, Mr Efosa Idehen,
said that the collaboration between the organisation, the security agencies and other stakeholders would help in tackling all forms of criminality on telecommunication operations in the country.
According to the NCC Chief, the workshop was designed to sensitise the law enforcement officers on some key challenges and issues on telecommunication regulation in Nigeria for the overall development of the sector and country at large.
“It is one in the series of self-activity that the commission instituted to underline our belief in forging strategic partnership with a spectrum of stakeholders for optimal results and for the good of the nation.
“The long term objective is to enhance our ability to regulate effectively in order to consolidate the exponential gains recorded in the telecommunication industry in Nigeria.
“The NCC has instituted series of social capital programmes to galvanise our nation’s social and economic transformation.
“The most notable is the school support programmes initiated a decade ago, which has resulted in the commissioning of over 700 projects in various institutions of learning in the country.
“The contribution of our sector to the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is nearing 10 per cent, hence the need to form a coalition of forces in a renewed strategic partnership with all players in the security sector to contain every forms of criminality on telecommunication in Nigeria,” he said.
Danbatta decried what he described as painful rise in the tempo of outright theft of telecommunication equipment as well as vandalism of telecommunication installations, facilities and infrastructure in the country.
“We have also seen proliferation in the sale and usage of pre-registered Subscribers Identification Module (SIM), all of which constitute nasty infraction of the Nigeria Communication Act 2003 and other extant regulation governing the telecommunications sector,” he added
The executive vice chairman wants the prosecution of anyone that violated the laws of the commission and those involved in the vandalism of the telecommunication installations, facilities and infrastructures.
Former Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, who presented a paper titled: “ICT- An enabler for effective policing’’, called for the training of security operatives on ICT to enable them adequately fight crimes in the country.
Arase further called for the training and retraining of security agents for optimal results.
In attendance at the workshop were representatives of NSCDC, Federal Road Safety Corps, State Security Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, among others.