NCC, Civil Defence Corps In Pact Against Telecoms Crimes

By InsideBusiness Last updated Sep 12, 2022

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has teamed with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle some of the criminal activities in the telecom industry.

The sector is beset with equipment vandalism and fraudulent registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards among others.

Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Umar Danbatta, at a workshop by the commission for senior management staff of NSCDC in the South West Zone, disclosed the pact between the two to explore how the Corps will deploy enabling laws, subsidiary legislations, and extant guidelines to arrest any form of criminality in the sector.

Danbatta, who was represented at the workshop by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement at the Commission, Ephraim Nwokonneya, said, over the years, the NCC has been working with relevant law enforcement agencies, and in particular the NSCDC, towards protecting telecom sector from all kinds of criminal behaviour.

“Through despicable activities that are criminal and totally at variance with national security concerns of government, the deviant elements in our midst have been acting to undermine efforts put in place to consolidate the gains of the sector,” the EVC said.

L-R: Nnena Ukoha, Head, Corporate Communication, Nigerian Communucations Commission (NCC); Eweka Okoro, Lagos State Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); Adamu Kambra, Commandant, National Headquarters, Abuja, NSCDC; Ephraim Nwokonneya, Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC; Agboola Sunday, Osun State Commandant, NSCDC; Mohammed Babajika, Director, Licensing and Authorisation, NCC; Ajibola Niyi, Ogun State Commandant, NSCDC; Femi Ete, Oyo State Deputy Commandant, NSCDC; Salisu Abdu, Head, Enforcememt, NCC, and Yomi Arowosafe, Lagos Zonal Controller, NCC, during a one-day workshop organised for the South West leadership of the NSCDC in Lagos recently.

Danbatta declared that “These criminal activities include theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, the illegal use of fraudulently-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, operating without license, illegal call masking, and so on.”

He said while the NSCDC officers have been of tremendous assistance, the objective of the workshop was to constantly engage and update them on new trends and existing regulations, requiring concerted efforts for their implementation towards enhancing sanity in the telecom sector.

Danbatta said the NSCDC and other agencies have done very well with the assistance of their personnel in carrying out raid exercises and mopping up fraudulently-registered SIM cards found in circulation, as well as in raising the banner of awareness on the need to protect critical national telecom infrastructure.

Some of the topical issues discussed at the workshop covered the activities of the Commission as presented by the relevant departments in the context of laws and other regulations, and in relation to the roles of NSCDC, as depicted in the presentation made by the NCC’s Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu, during the workshop.