Like an organized revolt it came in late 2001 and at the blink of the eye, Nigeria was awash with telephones.
In the burgeoning activities without adequate consumer education some issues were thrown up.
Such issues included false billing, arbitrary disconnection of service, poor service delivery, drop calls, non-chalant attitude towards genuine complaints, supply and installation of substandard equipment and devices, deceptive advertisement, credit depletion, inability to recharge, inability to check credit balance, network failure, and sending/charging for multiple text massages in place of a single one.
Numerous consumer complaints and inquiries poured into Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), necessitating the establishment of the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP).
TCP is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that includes dispute resolution processes and techniques that fall outside of the judicial process.
Since its inauguration five years ago, the TCP has gained widespread acceptance with consumers, operators and international community. The monthly Telecom Consumer Parliament puts telecoms operators and the industry regulator on the spotlight of the consumers.
The idea for setting up the parliament was informed by the need to bridge the information gap between the operators and their consumers and most importantly to provide an avenue for aggrieved subscribers to seek redress against the offending operators.
The Parliament attracts the participation of Chief Executives of leading communication companies who tackle issues raised by aggrieved subscribers.
Looking at this development early, the ITU described it as a veritable tool for conflict resolution, and has recommended the Consumer Parliament to the members of the global body responsible for telecom administration globally.
Today, better informed and more demanding consumers are now change agents in the telecommunications industry.
The Parliament brought some stability into the Communications sector and is no doubt; one platform the NCC would have to build on in the years ahead.
To do this, the NCC needs to rejig the parliament by documenting all these achievements in permanent form and publish same in major newspapers across the country to avoid repetition.
The TCP can also introduce online dispute resolution (ODR) where the tripod; consumer, operator and NCC are involved.
