Africa Security Investigation News

The Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Mustapha, has commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on a range of its telecom consumer protection initiatives, including the recent Village Square Dialogue (VSD), which held at the weekend in Yola, Adamawa State.

According to a press release signed by Reuben Muoka, Director, Public Affairs, July 24, 2023, said, Kakakin Adamawa, Prof. Abubakar Tahir, who represented Lamido Adamawa at the Consumer Conversation programme of the Commission with the theme: “Know Your Rights as Telecom Consumers” in Yola, said the event marked a privilege for individual telecom consumers and businesses in the state to ask questions and get face-to-face response from the regulator on telecom-related issues.

“We must commend the NCC for the great work it has been doing in the area of consumer education and enlightenment. Aside from being the regulator of the sector, the NCC leadership has taken the issue of consumer information very central; and we thank you for bringing this laudable initiative to the good people of Adamawa,” he said. 

The royal father advised the Commission to also consider exploring other areas that can lead to further reduction in the cost of telecom services and to ensure that services are available in most parts of the country.

“The Commission should kindly look inwards and ensure that all communities in the country continue to enjoy cheaper, better, qualitative and more accessible telecommunications services,” he said.

NCC’s Director of Consumer Affairs, Alkasim Umar, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the regulator has always been at the forefront of ensuring maximum protection for telecom consumers while providing the enabling environment for the licensed service providers to be able to provide good quality of service to the consumers.

“The NCC remains committed to its mandate of protecting, informing and educating consumers of telecoms services across all the 36 states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). This essence of the Village Square Dialogue, as one of our outreach events, is to provide a face-to-face interaction among the NCC, the service providers and the consumers,” Umar said. 

Speaking on some of the consumer-centric initiatives of the Commission, Umar said the Commission recently introduced the harmonized shortcodes which provide uniform codes for telecom consumers to access any consumer service type across all networks, either for airtime loading, checking airtime balance, call centres, data plan balance, and so on. 

He also reminded the consumers of the availability of the NCC Toll-Free Number, 622, which consumers can use to make complaints to the Commission on any telecom service-related issues they may be having with their service providers; the 112 Emergency Number to seek succour during emergencies, as well as the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code to block unsolicited messages.

“Information and education are key to the empowerment of telecom consumers. The protection of the rights and interests of telecom consumers is one of the mandates of the Commission, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003. When telecom consumers are duly informed and educated, they are protected against the unfair practices by the service providers,” Umar said.

Speaking further, Umar said everything in the current digital world revolves around telecommunications services and that educating consumers plays an important role in informing them, clarifying issues, and empowering them through information and enlightenment. 

“So, it is a great decision which will sensitize the people about their rights, their privileges and the expectations they have about the telecom businesses in the country,” he added.

The International Press Centre for the Safety & Protection of Journalists (I-CSPJ) Lagos – Nigeria, today tasked security agencies and related stakeholders on the urgent need for concerted efforts to ensure the safe return of the Director of News of Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation (RSBC), Mrs. Priestba Anthony Nwokocha, who was abducted by unknown gunmen between 7pm and 8pm along Slaughter/YKC road, Port Harcourt, on Friday, July 21, 2023 on her way from work.

According to
Melody Akinjiyan
Coordinator, I-CSPJ in a press release signed on Tuesday, stated that a report by the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) said: “Her car broke down along Slaughter/YKC road, she called her husband who later came with a mechanic to work on the car. It was in the presence of her husband and the mechanic that the kidnappers came and picked her up. They didn’t pick her husband or harm him, they just picked her and left.”

According to Comrade Stanley Job, the Rivers NUJ State Chairman, who confirmed the unfortunate incident, “the unknown kidnappers have reached out and are demanding for a ransom of 150 million naira for the release of Mrs. Nwokocha.”
He further stated that, “all efforts are in place to ensure her release and the Union has contacted CP Nwonyi Polycarp Emeka, Commissioner of Police, on the incident.”

I-CSPJ in a statement said, “The spate of insecurity in the country is alarming and is of serious concern to all”, adding that “it is very disturbing that journalists and media practitioners have also become easy targets.”

I-CSPJ is also worried about the trend of gender-related attacks as evident from the IPC 5-year monitoring report, which indicates a gradual increase in the trend of attacks on female journalists.

I-CSPJ therefore enjoined the security agencies, especially the Rivers State Commissioner of Police to do all they can to ensure that Mrs. Nwokocha is set free without being harmed in any way, while urging all and sundry to remain security conscious in the light of the evident security challenges in the country.

The Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to set up an open independent Public inquiry on the glitches that the commission claimed undermined the integrity of the 2023 Presidential election.

CUPP said that is the only sure way to go if the commission is truly concerned about credibility.

According to a statement signed by the National Secretary Opposition Coalition CUPP, High Chief Peter Ojonugwa Ameh, the suspicion and lack of public confidence in the election is so overwhelming that the INEC review will not elicit the kind of public trust needed to either justify what happened or uncover the fraudsters within the commission that deliberately thwarted the process by which Nigerians could have established a Credible election process.
“It is obvious and noticeable how Mahmud is running up and down in an attempt to try to repair the battered image of the commission and by extension his reputation as well. There is a total loss of public confidence in the commission so therefore if the commission goes ahead to conduct a self-examination through a non-transparent process of reviewing the elections. If the commission continues with the purported self-review process then it will amount to nothing in the eyes of the general public, The commission can not review itself without the elements of biased so if Yakubu Mahmoud is interested in reviewing the 2023 general election, the right thing to do is to set up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate and examine the unverifiable claims of the commission that there was a glitch, their terms of reference should include but not limited to the following;

“Make known to the public the Nature of the glitch and what caused it.

” Names of those in charge as at the time it occurred. We need to know that this was not a deliberate attempt by members of the commission to undermine the integrity of our election by subverting the right of the people to vote and elect their leaders through a free, fair, and credible process”, he added.

In a sustained effort to rid Nigeria of criminality, troops of 63 Bde Garrison under the auspices of 6 Division, Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services, have in an ongoing Clearance Operation, destroyed an enclave of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)/Eastern Security Network (ESN)at Asaba, Delta State, today Saturday 22 July 2023.

According to Brigadier General, Onyema Nwachukwu, Director Army Public Relations in a press release he signed on 22 July 2023, the troops conducted a raid operation on the fortified enclave located in the middle of a forested High ground in the early hours of the day.

The gallant troops overpowered the IPOB fighters in the exchange of fire that followed the encounter, compelling them to abandon their hideout in disarray.

The troops captured one of the fleeing fighters and recovered five AK 47 Rifles, three Pump Action Semi Automatic Rifles, one G3 Rifle and one single barrel gun. Other items recovered, include Live Cartridges, Electric Saw, Machetes, an Axe and IPOB flag.
The troops have destroyed the enclave and are exploiting the forest in pursuit of the fleeing fighters.

The Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja has commended the troops and other security agencies for their effort in the ongoing operations and has charged them to sustain the momentum to restore sanity in the region.