Emakpore tasks service providers on care centres @ rural areas

Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mrs. Lolia Emakpore, has tasked telecommunications operators in the country to extend their customer service plans to the rural communities.

She made this call at the 35th Telecom Parliament, which held at the Badagry Town Hall in Lagos State, at the weekend, saying that the Commission is worried over the difficulties experienced by rural consumers who reside in remote locations where there are no provisions for walk-in customer contact centers by the service providers.

“This is not acceptable to the Commission and has to be addressed with a great sense of urgency,” she said.

Emakpore who was represented at the occasion by Dr. Femi Atoyebi, noted that the desire of the Commission is to ensure that best practice is observed in all telecom call centers.

This, she said, NCC believes could be achieved with a commitment from the service providers through operational effectiveness and compliance with the call center service level agreement jointly endorsed between NCC and the service providers.

According to her, in order to address this concern, NCC decided to host the 35th Consumer forum in Badagry with the theme: Customer Care Help Lines: A veritable platform for effective customer service delivery.

She further said that NCC has noted the efforts made by some service providers to increase the spread of their walk-in- customer contact centers in cities and major towns across the country, but urged them to extend this gesture to the rural areas.

“However, a lot needs to be done to ensure that consumers irrespective of their location have access to customer care help lines,” she said.

Emakpore pointed out that it was in this stead that NCC created the consumer outreach programme to provide a platform for interaction among consumers, the service providers and the regulator.

“The forum is also a feedback mechanism for the Commission in making regulatory intervention for the protection of consumers,” she said.

She equally described the platform as the tradition of NCC through the bureau to take this forum to the door step of the consumer at regular intervals, noting that the 34th edition was held in Jimeta, Adamawa State.

“And today, we are here in Badagry, Lagos State for the same purpose,” she said.

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