Leadership (Abuja)
14 May 2008
Abuja — To demonstrate the fact that it is desirous to ensure that the Nigerian telecom consumers get a fairer deal in the areas of pricing, quality service and coverage, among others, the Federal Government has scheduled for Monday, May 19, 2008 in Lagos, the Third Stakeholders' Forum to discuss core consumer related issues.
According to the head of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Dave Imoko, the commission will be organising the forum to further drive home the point that the consumer is the subject and objective of all it's activities (NCC including telecom operators).
Without the consumers, neither the NCC nor the operators will have anything to call the telecom industry. So the consumers form a very critical part in the regulator-operator-consumer tripod that makes up the Nigerian telecom industry, Imoko stated.
He said the NCC is not unmindful of the concerns and apprehensions relating to quality of service, (QoS) and the benefits the consumer should get from the telecom sector.
The Commission's concern over QoS resulted in a series of events, and most recently a forum organised specifically to address some of the contentious issues affecting operators.
And in continuation of government's drive to give the Nigerian people what they should be getting, therefore, the NCC is again, within one quarter, organising yet another forum to address the very important place of the consumer in the nation's telecom environment, he stated.
The one-day seminar specifically targeted at discussing and bringing to the fore the rights of the telecom consumer in Nigeria has the theme: The Place of the Consumer in the Nigerian Telecom Industry.
The forum is being managed and organised on behalf of the NCC by Africa's foremost information and communications technology magazine, IT & Telecom Digest under its famous Stakeholders' Forum Series, which the magazine initiated in 2006.
Holding at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos, the 3rd Stakeholders' Forum will bring together all telecom industry stakeholders, including government officials, mobile and telephone operators, internet service providers, equipment suppliers as well as consumers and consumer advocacy groups, in what promises to be a most opportuned platform for discussing the place of the consumer in the emerging scenario.
Mr. Mkpe Abang, Editor-in-chief of IT & Telecom Digest magazine, while corroborating Mr. Imoko's position on the concerns of government and NCC regarding what consumers get from operators, said the forum will provide a platform for consumer issues to be adequately addressed while also educating them on recognising and realising their rights and how to demand for them.
It is important that consumers know what their rights are and what their place in the Nigerian information and communications industry is.
Without the consumer, the operators will have no business offering services; and the whole essence of regulation will be such that the consumers get a fair deal and that they are not short-changed. The NCC has always realised this and so organising this forum, is to further drive home its point that the consumers must not be taken for granted, Abang stated.
IT & Telecom Digest initiated the Stakeholders' Forum series in 2006, and that maiden edition discussed and prepared Nigerians for the Unified Licensing Regime which was ultimately introduced by the NCC at the end of the five-year exclusivity period granted Digital Mobile Licensees. The second edition of the Stakeholders' Forum held in 2007, explored the NCC's broadband initiatives for Nigeria.
According to Abang, the Stakeholders' Forum series will continue to play pivotal roles in crystallising the focus for the ICT industry in Nigeria while providing a veritable platform for the NCC, government and industry stakeholders to discuss and proffer solutions to the challenges in the nation's ICT industry.
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