NCC Assures of Education, Protection, Access to Fair Digital Financial Services
As Nigeria joins the global community to celebrate the World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) 2022, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has affirmed that the theme of this year will be an integral part of its activities aimed at Protecting, Informing and Educating the telecoms consumer as well as ensuring that telecom consumers have access to fair digital financial services all year round.
In his remarks, the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, highlighted that the theme of this year’s World Consumer Rights Day, as announced by Consumer International, “Fair Digital Finance” is apt with the Commission’s constant efforts to implement its mandate as the regulator of the telecommunications industry.
Danbatta said that in the earlier years, at the inception of the Commission, the concern was more around liberalizing the industry to encourage more participants to drive competition, adding that this was of course done with the consumer being the focal point of the Commission’s regulatory activities.
“As the regulator of a very dynamic industry, the NCC is aware of the changing trends in technology. Without a doubt, the telecommunications sector has significantly grown after its liberalization in 2001 and has witnessed an unprecedented positive impact on other socio-economic sectors in the country. The entry of mobile telecommunications technology has berthed transformation to sectors such as banking, finance, insurance, commerce, trading, aviation, pension, entertainment, education, health, agriculture, etc. with various other services riding on the mobile telecommunications technology in Nigeria. Digital technology offers Nigeria the opportunity to grow and diversify its economy from the overdependence on oil & gas export proceeds.
“The launch of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 attests to the fact that Nigeria is poised to join the comity of nations and become a global leader in transforming its economy into a digital one. The broadband plan is designed to deliver 120,000km of fiber, 70% penetration, data download speeds across Nigeria of a minimum of 25mbps in urban areas, and 10mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90% of the population at a price not more than ₦390 per 1GB of data (i.e., 2% of median income or 1% of minimum wage) by end of 2025.
“Through the years, the industry grew, and with that growth, there have been convergences – financial transactions that were once conducted in-person at banking halls are now resident on consumers’ mobile devices. The lines have thinned between the platform provided by telecommunications, the content produced by media, and services offered by financial institutions. Many of the financial and commercial activities undertaken by humans have been digitized, they are fusedinto what is now referred to as Digital Economy that has grown to be so strategic that Nigeria promptly formulated a policy, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030.”
The EVC posited that the development of a digital economy is creating new technology platforms and industries on one hand, while enhancing the efficiency and productivity of existing industries on the other.
According to him, other benefits of the digital economy as it relates to consumer relations: Rise in e-services, Creating Job Opportunities, Expansion of Business Opportunities, and Digital delivery of Goods and Services.
He stated further that the Pillar #6 of the NDEPS 2020-2030, which deals with soft infrastructure, has proven to be proactive.
“The soft infrastructure pillar focuses on strengthening public confidence in the use of digital technologies and participation in the digital economy. The pillar will address the importance of cybersecurity and other standards, frameworks, and guidelines that encourage citizens to go digital. Data privacy and the deployment of technologies like the public key infrastructure are addressed in this pillar,” he said.
He explained that the theme of this year’s World Consumer Rights Day, as announced by Consumer International, “Fair Digital Finance” calls for stakeholders to do more in protecting consumers and keeping them informed because more people are signing up for digital financial services like banking, insurance, and investment management.
The NCC Boss cited the Juniper Research which predicted that users of digital banking services would increase by 54% from 2.4 billion in 2020 to exceed 3.6 billion by 2024.
Danbatta, however, noted that some of these consumers must cope with vulnerabilities in using digital financial services, adding that these challenges of adapting to digital platforms for transactions are further worsened by unscrupulous people that exploit consumer vulnerabilities for illicit gains.
Consequently, he said, all stakeholders have the responsibility to protect consumers against losses on account of their adopting digital platforms, stressing that they should enjoy the protection as obtained on the legacy platforms.
Fortunately, he declared that NDEPS 2020-2030 adequately addressed the protection of telecom consumers against the threats of cybercrime, encouraging them to embrace digital finance and supporting them to contribute to the digital economy.
“The Commission, committed to fulfilling its mandate and passionate about driving the Digital Economy in Nigeria, has continued to implement initiatives in this regard. Through its Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB), it undertakes constant Consumer Education with a significant part of this effort dedicated to providing information that equips the Consumer to thrive in a world that has embraced digital finance.
“Through its outreach programs, which have been re-tooled to reflect existing realities and trends, Consumer Affairs Bureau now has consumer-centric initiatives that include Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP),Telecom Consumer Town Hall on Radio (TCTHR), Telecom Consumer Conversations (TCC) as well as social media platforms and a Consumer Portal that are avenues for telecom consumers to access education materials that include how to safeguard themselves while using telecom platform to access digital financial products.
“CAB has developed and produced various consumer education materials such as Flexi and Roll-up Banners, Handbills, Stickers, Bookmarks, and Consumer Handbook on major telecom topics, which are regularly distributed to consumers.
“As part of activities marking the 2022 World Consumer Rights Day, the Commission has finalized arrangements to establish the Telecom Consumer Assistance, Resolution and Enquiries (TELCARE) Desk, at strategic locations across the country to provide information to telecom consumers. The TELCARE desk is to serve as an additional platform to receive and facilitate the resolution of consumer complaints; provide a means through which consumers and citizens can make inquiries on consumer issues; provide a platform for advocacy on any thematic consumer issue or concerns; to further enhance awareness of the Commission’s activities,” he emphasized.
He disclosed that the Commission plans to have help desks located at strategic places at Nigerian Airports, with the desk in the Arrival Lounge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja, which is being commissioned today being a pilot.
To further protect telecom consumers, he stated that the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT) periodically notifies telecom consumers of the latest cybersecurity threats and how to avoid falling victims to them.
“NCC-CSIRT has been at the forefront of protecting telecom consumers from cyber threats. The provision of timely advisories has helped to protect consumers from being unfairly targeted by cyber-attacks, which goes a long way in ensuring that they can access digital services without suffering unwarranted losses.
As we address the threat and challenges to those that are already connected to digital finance, the Commission is mindful of those that are yet to be connected because of coverage issues. As many as 35 million Nigerians are yet to have access to telecommunications services and by implication, they lack access to digital financial services.
“This situation denies these Nigerians access to digital financial inclusion. It is a challenge that is attributable to the inadequacy of both wireless and fibre connectivity infrastructure. The fact remains that more citizens will embrace the digital financial culture when they have access to telecom services in the distant, isolated, unserved, and underserved communities where they dwell.
“We are therefore conscious of the urgency of increasing investment in both fixed and wireless infrastructure. This will make the target of at least 80 percent level of financial inclusion in about four years possible. The Commission has thus licensed the infrastructure companies (Infracos), which are to provide the fibre from landing ports to the hinterland of the country. A key focus in this regard is to provide broadband connectivity, especially in the 774 local government areas in the Country. There would be further actions to enable Infracos to commence operations as the Commission recognizes that fibre is the long-term solution to the volume of transactions in the financial services sector.”
He also stated that the broadband plan is designed to deliver 120,000km of fiber, 70% penetration, data download speeds across Nigeria of a minimum of 25mbps in urban areas, and 10mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90% of the population at a price not more than ₦390 per 1GB of data (i.e. 2% of median income or 1% of minimum wage) by end of 2025.
He listed other measures towards deepening of Mobile Broadband Penetrations in the Country and in turn enhance digital Financial Services (DFS) for the benefit of telecoms consumers include Spectrum Re-farming, 5G Spectrum Auction, Re-Planning of 800MHz CDMA Spectrum for LTE, Administrative Assignment of 700MHz Spectrum for LTE.
The Commission, he said, has made provision of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) for financial transactions across various financial institutions’ platforms, which has brought ease to financial transactions.
The Commission, he assured, is committed to partnering with other key stakeholders on the government side, especially as this pertains to the regulatory aspect to ensure that providers of digital financial services play by the rules.
In his words: “We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to drive Financial Inclusion & Fintech, this has resulted in the registration of MNOs (Glo, MTN, 9Mobile & Airtel) as Payment Service Bank (PSB) entities. Some mobile network operators have thus secured Mobile Money Payment Services licenses from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable them to undertake mobile financial transaction services.”
Danbatta said that the Commission is committed to sustaining such cordial relationships with sister regulatory agencies as well as solicit for greater cooperation and collaboration between the banking and telecommunications sectors to evolve services that are fair to the consumer.
“The partnerships extend to support for e-payment initiatives and CBN policies, including the e-Naira project,” he added.
He affirmed that the theme of this year will be an integral part of the Commission’s activities aimed at Protecting, Informing and Educating (PIE) the telecoms consumer.
“We call this our PIE Mandate to the consumers and it shall be implemented throughout the year 2022 and beyond to ensure that telecom consumers have access to fair digital financial services all year round,” he concluded.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management, Barrister Adeleke Adewolu disclosed that each year, Consumers International – the global coalition of over 250 consumer advocacy groups and entities spread across more than 120 countries and territories worldwide – celebrates World Consumer Rights Day on March 15th. The celebration, he said is a reminder that we all have the responsibility to protect the consumer from market abuses, exploitation, and injustices that erode the consumer’s rights.
Customarily, he said each year has a theme that focuses attention on a topical issue and the theme also provides a rallying point for stakeholders in consumer protection worldwide to harmonize their actions and improve on service delivery in their respective sectors.
Adewolu stated that this year’s theme, “Fair Digital Finance” is apt and appropriate because the increasingly high speed of digitization of financial services has thrown up many challenges for consumers as they navigate the “new” financial services landscape.
On the other hand, he stated that the theme is appropriate because now is the time to address issues that would make access to, and usage of digital financial services safer for the consumer.
He announced that fortunately, over the years, the Commission has remained unwavering in its commitment to the telecom consumer.
The Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management said “The annual commemoration of World Consumer Rights Day is, therefore, a catalyst for the Commission to scale up what it is already doing to protect, inform and educate the telecom consumer.
“Today’s event will shed light on the policies, initiatives, programmes, and activities that the Commission implements towards protecting the rights and addressing the concerns of the Nigerian telecom consumer, especially as they pertain to fair digital finance.”
