Emergency Communication Centres Creating Job Opportunities, Says NCC

Emma Okonji 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that beyond providing essential emergency response services to the Nigerian public, the Emergency Communications Centres (ECC) being implemented by NCC, now provide employment placements for many Nigerian youths and professionals, as well as offering informal business activities to the citizens across the country.

NCC in a statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said the centres, which are now fully operational in a total of 27 state capitals across the country, are reachable on Toll-Free Number 112,  and are operating in similar design like the 911 Emergency Numbers in some developed parts of the world. 

The ECC centres provide succor to individuals, who are witnesses or under distress of emergency, arising from fire outbreaks, robbery or violent attacks, domestic and road accidents, health crisis, to instantly reach response agencies through the toll-free numbers, 112. 

Four more centres are currently undergoing test-runs to commence services in September 2023, to bring the total to 31, while another set of four are expected to come into operations before the end of the year.

According to the statement, the commission provides technology platforms such as Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems for the respective response agencies such as police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ambulance Service, and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA), to facilitate the dispatch of emergency calls through the national emergency toll-free number 112.

“The three-digit code was designed to ensure that citizens in emergency situations can easily recall the three-digit code, 112, to report emergency situations. Agents of the ECCs, have been trained, and equipped with state-of-the-art communications equipment, including digital radio and Internet-protocol (IP) and geo-location technologies to enable responders to easily identify location of incidents for effective and efficient delivery of rescue services to the public,” the statement said.  It added: “As the ECCs assume more crucial roles in providing emergency communications services to the citizenry, it is also providing additional socio-economic responsibility of providing job opportunities to the citizens as each of the centres have staff made up of Call agents, Facility/IT Staff, and Administrators