NCC Supports Consumers to Sue Telcos

Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) is to give necessary support to any consumer ready to prosecute any telecommunication operator in the country over poor services, according to Reuben Muoka, spokesperson of the commission.

Muoka, said that prosecution of telecommunication service providers for poor services was another way to compel them to get their acts together in service delivery.

He told NAN that the NCC Act did not permit NCC to prosecute any service provider based on individual complainant.

He said that the commission had established a Consumer Protection Department to address the issue of complaints from customers.

“NCC has the right to sanction operators but individuals can also sue them in court in order to get redemption on their penalties over sub service charges.

“The fact that NCC can sanction does not mean that NCC will prosecute the operators based on individual complaint but people can sue if they feel cheated and need a refund.

“The act does not prohibit anybody from prosecuting an operator who fails to render good services as required, you can sanction the poor service operators or port to another network,’’ he said.

Muoka said that some of the consumers had cried out to the commission to assist them in cautioning the operators for refunds on poor services.

Mrs. Omobola Johnson, minister of Communication Technology; Mrs.  Dupe Atoki, director-general, Consumer Protection Council; and Dr. Eugene Juwah, EVC, NCC had in 2013 threatened to sanction operators over poor services.

Johnson spoke in Lagos recently that the Federal Government would prosecute telecommunication service providers who continued to render poor quality services to subscribers with effect from January 2014.

Similarly, Atoki said that the errant operators stood the risk of jail term of not less than five years if ongoing investigations revealed that they were deliberately short-changing Nigerians through poor service delivery.