James Emejo in Abuja
Minister of Communications Technology, Mr. Adebayo Shittu has called for closer ties between his Ministry and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) in order to save Nigerians from increasing consumer abuses in the telecommunications sector.
Speaking in Abuja when the Director General of CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki led the agency’s Management team on a courtesy call on him, Shittu said the collaboration has become necessary given that Information Communication Technology, particularly telecoms, has the greatest impact on the Nigerian consumer community.
According to him, “Telecoms and ICT are the biggest influence on human lives, on businesses and even on government, I think that ICT, particularly telecoms is one area where we can possibly affect Nigerians perhaps more than any other”, noting that “as at today we have 150 million Nigerians who use telephones and that shows the only area with the largest users.”
He added: “If you talk of food, it is possible that some people may not get food or may not eat and sleep that day but telecoms has become the single link that Nigerians have among themselves and with outside world. So I believe that in today’s world, it is the area where you have the largest dose of cheating and fraud. So if we are able to succeed in protecting the rights of telecom consumers, there will be a lot of satisfaction because as minister of communications, I receive bashing in this area.”
Earlier, Atoki said the visit was to intimate the minister on the relevance of the ministry in activities lined up for the commemoration of the 2017 World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD), whose theme is ‘Building A Digital Age Consumers can Trust’. She stressed the need to step up protection for consumers in the telecom sector.
Enumerating the challenges consumers in the digital age in the country face, the CPC boss contended that everything has been digitalised “except for our breathing, because at the touch of a button, something just happen, so we cannot avoid being engulfed in the digital system.
A statement by CPC’s Deputy Director, Public Relations, Mr. Abiodun Obimuyiwa, quoted Atoki to have said: “We are looking at acknowledging the benefits of the digital world, examining the challenges that this innovation had brought, we are to look at all the peculiarities and take up those issues and try to find resolve for them.
“For us in Nigeria, we know that there are concerns on online redress, because you can do so many things online, you can purchase a product online, but when there is a fault, you cannot do the same online. You cannot get a redress online. If you bought a product that is dissatisfactory, the businesses have not created a portal that eases consumer redress. We also have online security, where you have fraud, and this is where the 419s and the yahoo people as you call them, thrive on the digital system. And so we have so much fraud going on using the various platforms for digital process.
“We also have the privacy protection issues here, one of which is unsolicited messages that we receive. These are as a result of the digital platforms for which these processes are being put to us, and so it’s either messages or sometimes you are forced to get a caller tune that you are not even aware of, so your privacy is being invaded via these various platforms.
“Issues that sit with the telecoms operators, issues of broadband consumers don’t know. You buy a bundle for voice or broadband and you don’t know what is allocated to you. There are a lot of challenges that we face as a result of this new digital age.”
