NCC Says N10bn Expended in Setting Up Emergency Communication Centres

• Danbatta: It was a strategic mistake not to have invested in fixed telephony

Dele Ogbodo in Abuja

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, on Wednesday said the commission spent more than N10 billion in setting up its Emergency Communication Centres (ECC) for citizens in distress or requiring emergency services.

He however admitted that not many are aware of these centres whose establishment started in 2003 when the National Assembly (NASS) passed the Act to use the digits, 112, as our emergency communication numbers.

He said NCC will soon extend the Centres to cover all the states, stressing: “The Centres are expected to interface with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Fire Service, Hospital ambulances, and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), who are the major providers of emergency services.”

The EVC made the disclosure in Abuja during an interface with Defence attaches of foreign missions in the country on the investment opportunities that lie within Nigeria’s telecommunications sector.

He said: “Today we have emergency communication centres in virtually all states of the country; the Centres provide interface between citizens in distress or requiring emergency services providers like the Fire services, FRSC, Ambulance services, the Police and the five emergency service providers.

“It is interesting to note that there is a provision to expand the emergency services providers and this is active in 5 states, you can dial 112.”