The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says there is need for public-private partnership to protect communication infrastructure in the country.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta stated this in Lagos on Tuesday during the 20l9 Cisco African Academy Cyber Security Conference for English West and Central Africa.
Represented by Aminu Abdullahi, the Principal Manager, New Media and Security Services, NCC, Danbatta said that in Nigeria, majority of the communication infrastructure resided in private hands.
He said the risks to national and economic security associated with the compromise or failure of these assets meant that their protection required concerted public-private partnership efforts.
According to him, NCC and key industry stakeholders have been working to foster and implement a robust cybersecurity environment for effective lnformation and Communications Technology infrastructure security management, as well as data protection and privacy.
“The internet has become an essential part of our daily activities. Statistical indicators show that more than half of the world’s population uses the internet, thereby generating about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data on daily basis.
“The NCC’s industry statistics show that the number of internet users is about 119.5 million subscribers as at April, 2019.
“Despite the slow start, internet use is growing exponentially in Nigeria.
“While a huge amount of data is useful in a number of fields such as banking. medicine, communications, government, education, among others, it also poses unprecedented threats for users’ security and privacy,’’ Danbatta said.
He said that though NCC was not a security agency, it ensured its support for the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in investigating telecommunications -related security incidents, as required by law.
He said that the Commission was actively involved in all the collaborative processes that culminated in adapting the ‘National Cyber Security Policy’ by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Danbatta said that the regulatory body was involved in processes and adaptation of the National Cyber Security Strategy and the Cybercrimes Act, 2015.
He said that the Commission also played a key role in its collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) toward the establishment of the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT) Coordination Centre.
According to him, the centre provides support to the coordination of cybersecurity incidents in Nigeria.
“The Commission also supports initiative of all sectorial Computer Security Incidence Response Teams (CSlRTs), which will collaborate and work with the ngCERT in tackling cyber threats and vulnerabilities; thereby forming an effective and well-coordinated national CERT ecosystem.
“Hence, in conformance with the National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS), the Commission has commenced the process of establishing a Cyber Security Incidence Response Team (CSlRT) exclusively for the telecommunications sector.
“The sectorial CSIRT will complement the ngCERT by handling and containing Cybersecurity incidents in the telecommunications sector.
“The NCC-CSIRT, when established, will facilitate intervention, swift identification of threats/vulnerabilities and sharing of valuable information and resources to assist in fortifying the resilience of the national lCT infrastructure,’’ Danbatta said.
Tag: NCC
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NCC advocates public-private partnership to protect communication infrastructure
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Ex-NCC spokesman, Tony Ojobo to receive African Achievers Award in UK
The immediate past Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Tony Ojobo will on Thursday, July 11 receive the African Achievers Award as “African Public Affairs and Brand Executive of the Year” at the House of Commons, House of Parliament, United Kingdom.
Ojobo who announced his retirement from the nation’s telecom regulatory body after 18 years of meritorious service in October last year was notified of the award presentation in a letter dated June 3, 2019.
Aside receiving the award, Ojobo is also billed to make a special presentation.
The letter reads in part:
“It is with great pleasure that we invite you as an Honoree for the 2019 African Achievers Awards under the “African Public Affairs and Brand Executive of the Year ’’ category. This is in recognition of your exceptional leadership qualities and strategies that has created
immense value for the telecommunication industry in Nigeria by engaging with stakeholders during your period at the Nigerian Communication Commission NCC. You have been active mentoring and proffering Public Relations solutions to the corporate world with your company Imagexetera and help incubate and nurture young inventors in Nigeria with your technology hub TechX.
The Award Ceremony will be holding at the House of Commons, United Kingdom Parliament. The African Achievers Awards has consistently honoured great Africans in Leadership, Community builders, Young Achievers, to Captains of Industries across the continent.
The Awards ceremony has fast become established as one of the biggest gatherings of influential and global African Achievers on the continent. Our Award ceremony has been rated by FORBES Magazine as one of the most prestigious award Ceremonies on the African continent.
We are pleased to inform you that you will also make special presentation.” -
We must checkmate cybercrime, says Danbatta
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Garba Danbatta has said the Commission in line with its mandate will continue to collaborate with the industry’s stakeholders especially on the issue of cybercrime.
Danbatta reiterated this at the 88th Edition of Telecom Consumer Parliament with the theme ‘’Challenges of Cybercrime: The Role of the Telecoms Service Providers’’ which held on Thursday in Abuja.
With respect to cyber security, the EVC said the Commission would continue to ensure dialogue and active participation where we can harness additional ideas and implementation in order to protect ourselves.
Reflecting on e-services, Danbatta affirmed that all telecom stakeholders need to go back to the drawing board in order to inspire confidence in consumers to patronize the communications services because if Nigerians do not subscribe to telecommunications services, the services will die and millions of Nigerians will lose their jobs, the revenue the telecom Industry generates to GDP will not be there and that is a recipe for disaster.
The TCP resolved that service providers should have a unified database for Sim cards in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to reduce the number of Sim card fraudsters.
It was also agreed that cyber crime offenders instead of just being jailed, should be put in facilities where their skills can be deployed for development of Technology as opposed to just being incarcerated.
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NCC addresses disclosure of subscribers’ identity by telecom operators
The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, says it is an offence for any telecommunication operator to disclose data of subscribers on their network.
Danbatta said this at the 88th Edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) with the theme: “Challenges to Cybercrime: The Role of Telecom Service Providers ” on Thursday in Abuja.
He said cybercrime had become pervasive in the country, adding that every consumer should be protected, except in exceptional cases with permission of the security authorities.
The vice chairman said the commission came up with such annual events so as to sensitise Nigerians, to ensure adequate protection of networks thereby taking measures to protect access to privacy.
“It is wrong for telecommunications operators to disclose any data identity of subscribers on their network without permission. It is unlawful.
“If such instances take place, then the subscriber in question can escalate this matter to the NCC and we will investigate and establish whether that is the case and take necessary regulatory measures.
“The database of subscribers with network operators is not supposed to be disclosed to anyone.
“It can be done lawfully with interception project in place where such data can be acquired in the interest of security of the nation.
“We must try to ensure the security and privacy of all subscribers on the telecommunication networks, that is the only way we can instil confidence in subscribers and other Nigerians to patronise telecommunications service,” he said.
He, however, said operators had been encouraged to embark on the know your customer programme as it was very important for customers to be enlightened on what to do when challenges surfaced.
According to Danbatta, at the national level, we have the Nigerian Computer Response Team that domiciles in the office of the national security adviser and put in place in order to secure the Nigerian cyberspace by keeping cyber attacks at bay.
“By preventing them from getting into the national networks, whether telecommunications, broadcast and other networks deliberately put in place in order to ensure the wellbeing of things of this country.
“The strategies that we are recommending are strategies that are easily implantable; they are strategies that will assist citizens on what to do to protect themselves from cyber attacks.
“People, who commit these kind of crimes take their identities. There is the need to continue to change usernames as well as some authentication that will ensure security of data,” he said.
In his remarks, Alhaji Ismail Adedigba, Head Information and Reference Unit, NCC, said they had gone round the country on a sensitisation programme so that everybody would know about the telecom industry.
Adedigba explained that the commission gave licence to telecom operators to deploy services everywhere in the country.
He also said the universal service provision fund helped in subsidising to make sure that everyone was included in the digital revolution to enjoy availability, affordability and accessibility.
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One problem in fight against Internet fraud worries EFCC
Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday said criminals use SIM cards (phone lines) obtained illegally for specific time, for a particular fraud, and after which, discard them.
According to the EFCC Boss, “That is a problem because it gives room to commit a whole lot crimes”, adding that “that is why we are soliciting for your support in terms of regulations”.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Magu made the appeal through the Zonal Head of the Commission in the South-East, Usman Imam, while receiving the State Controller of NCC, Mrs. Emilia Nwokoro and her team who came on a courtesy call at the Independence Layout Zonal Office of the Commission.
He called for concerted efforts from stakeholders in the telecommunication sector especially from the NCC and other service providers in the fight against corruption.
“We thank you for coming here, you are one of our critical stakeholders, because we know that in every criminal activity be it 419 or any other form of scam, there is an element of telecommunication involved,” he said.
Noting the key role telephone lines plays in cyber crimes investigations and other forms of crimes, he emphasized on the imperative for the NCC to take the issue of SIM registration “very seriously”.
“We are willing to partner with organisations that add value to what we are doing. The gap between us has further been reduced because of your visit which will enable us now talk directly and exchange ideas.
“If we are able to tackle telecommunication challenges and frauds, many other frauds would be stopped. The system is that bad that there is no coordinated data management system in the country. But we have to start somewhere to get somewhere. You must do a lot in terms of enforcement,” he said.
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NCC advocates broadband development to drive industrial revolution
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stressed the need for broadband development to drive 4th Industrial Revolution in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the country.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta made this assertion during the 2019, 7th Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition on Tuesday in Abuja.
The theme of the three-day conference is “Africa’s Tech Renaissance: Positioning Africa for the Age of Abundance”.
Danbatta, who was represented by Mrs Iyabo Solanke, Director of Research and Development, said that Africa needed to be part of the 4th Industrial Revolution as she missed out on the previous great leaps in human innovation.
The chairman said that the commission was trying to see how broadband availability and accessibility would be accelerated in Nigeria.
He advised students in the country to be ICT complaint and take the matter of technology seriously as there was a correlation between the levels of technological advancement with economic development.
According to him, it is time for Africa to make the right choices in order to be able to create and enjoy abundance here in Africa and be truly a part of the world.
“We are encouraging the academia to improve what will develop the telecommunications industry in the country.
”We encourage the academia to be research based because they cannot develop without proper research activities.
“In this knowledge based environment that we are, we need students that are ICT complaint. The commission as part of its social responsibility provided some ICT facilities to schools so that they will learn,” he said.
In his remarks, Dr Isa Pantami, Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), called on all the ICT stakeholders to come together, support and deliver the mandate of the Industry.
Pantami said that NITDA had developed a strategic road map with seven pillars namely: cyber regulation, cyber security, capacity building, digital inclusion, digital doc creating,
Local point promotion and development and digital services for working and development accordingly.He described data as the new oil and encouraged Nigerians to be focused more on data, adding that other countries in this age and time do not talk about mineral resources and natural resources anymore.
The director general said that other countries have moved from natural based resources to digital based economy, adding that a time would come when relying solely on the natural resources would not sustain the economy of the country.
According to him, if data is utilised effectively, it is the new oil. Most people in the world are talking about digitisation and utilising data as the new oil.
“It is no more about natural resources or mineral resources but ICT. Most of the leading companies today in the world are not in any way natural resources company, they are more of data or digital companies.
“We need to think outside the box to see how we can support and develop our local content in the country.
“The earlier we realise this in Nigeria or Africa, the better for us,” Pantami said.
The Chairman, Digital Africa, Dr Evans Woherem, explained that the idea of the conference was to stretch the minds of Nigerians to realise that things could be done a lot better than they were done.
According to Woherem, there are some technologies that are now very topical and are also helping with regards to the digitalisation of countries.
“Those technologies are called exponential technology; they don’t make you go sequential. They do not make you go arithmetically. They make you develop geometrically
“You cannot be doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. The world is shifting and the world is now highly digitised.
“Countries that want to succeed even in the new era that we are moving into are realising that they have to be digitized. There are very many possibilities of what we can do to developing our content”
The yearly digital Africa conference and exhibition is to showcase and sensitise the entire Africa.
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Coming 5G networks: How Nigerians can derive maximum benefits
Gbenga Adebayo, President, Association of Licenced Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has revealed how Nigerians can derive maximum benefits from the coming 5th generation networks.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports President of the ALTON made the revelation on Wednesday during the 2019 Workshop for Judges on Legal Issues in Telecommunications organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
According to the ALTON President, the country “needs robust infrastructure that guarantees uninterrupted telecom services to be able to enjoy derivable benefits of the coming 5th generation networks”.
Speaking at the workshop, Dr. A. S. Peters, while noting that radiation would normally affect the bio-system, said there is no existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level EMF.
“Radiation would affect the bio-system but the fundamental question is the threshold above which the effects become enabling or a threat to human health.
“Importantly, after over 25,000 peer reviewed papers and meta-analysis, WHO has done in-depth review of available literature and concluded that current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level EMF,” said Peters.
According to Prof. Abiola Sanni at the workshop, beyond multiple regulations and other infrastructure disruption issues, the major problem bedevilling the telecom sector may be abuse of regulatory powers by various agencies for revenue purposes.
However, Odume Ikechukwu, Director of Legal Services at FIRS said there hasn’t been any increase in taxation because FIRS has no power to unilaterally increase taxes.
“Even VAT is still 5% and Personal Income Tax has not been increased,” the FIRS Director said.
Meanwhile, in his welcome address at the workshop that held Enugu, Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NCC, who was represented by Sunday Dare, the Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management at NCC, said the workshop, which has held for 17 consecutive years, is organised annually by the Commission to bring the judiciary up to speed with emerging issues in telecommunications.
The objective is to enhance the capacity of the judiciary to dispense justice in telecommunications cases from an informed position oriented in appropriate and contemporary knowledge.
“Indeed, technology can make the law to be very timid and reluctant because technology evidently moves faster while the law struggles to catch up.
“The implication of this is that judges may face situations in which they may have to rely on extant laws to adjudicate on cases, thus creating scenarios that are out of sync with reality,” a statement by the Commission read.
This circumstance of disparity in tempo of progress between technology and the law, as well as attendant necessity for synchronisation through knowledge sharing which is the overarching objective of the workshop, was amplified by Hon. Justice R.P.I. Bozimo, the Administrator of the National Judicial Institute, and by Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed PhD CFR, Hon. Ag. Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman, Board of Governors of the National Judicial Institute, who was represented at the event by Hon. Justice Mary Odili, JSC, in the Opening Remark and Keynote Address respectively.
The moderator of the workshop, Sunday Dare, set the ball rolling by inviting Yetunde Akinloye, NCC’s Director of Legal and Regulatory Services, to make the first major presentation of the day – Overview of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003.
Akinloye told the judges that because the NCA do not provide for everything like most laws, section 70 of the Act empowers the Commission to make subsidiary legislations and the legislations go through normal legal processes and are gazetted before they become operational.
Akinloye also revealed that Lawful Interception Regulation, National Communications Policy 2012 (undergoing review), the National Broadband Policy 2013-2018 are part of the instruments affect and shape the operation of the Act.
The NCC according to Akinloye also derives powers from the Nigerian Telegraphy Act of 1961 (reviewed in 1998). She noted that the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act 2015, and the new Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (2019) are also regulations that overlap with some provisions of NCA 2003 and NCC relates with agencies supervising the implementation of these and other impinging laws to reduce the spectrum of conflict in enforcing the laws.
“The operators in Nigeria are complaining about the OTTs because of the implications for revenue and operational issues. So, as a regulator NCC is exploring how to achieve a win-win situation between operational issues and the need for services to be available, accessible and affordable to the consumers,” Akinloye said.
Conclusively, Akinloye told the judges that the Nigerian Communications Act (2003) is undergoing comprehensive review by the Nigerian Law Reform Commission.
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Negotiated settlement: MTN pays N55bn final instalment to NCC
MTN Nigeria Plc says it has paid the sixth and final instalment of N55 billion negotiated settlement to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The Chief Corporate Relations Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr Tobechukwu Okigbo, made the disclosure in a statement on Friday in Lagos.
According to him, the amount completes MTN’s payment of the N330 billion negotiated settlement agreed between the NCC and the company in 2016.
“The successful resolution of the fine was the outcome of active collaboration between the NCC and MTN.
“We are very pleased to have completed the payment of the N330 billon negotiated settlement with the NCC.
“We are particularly gratified to be in a position to have fully met the terms of the settlement within the agreed time frames.
“I thank the NCC for constructive and collaborative approach to this issue, and believe that we emerge from it with a stronger relationship focused on ensuring maximum value is delivered to our people from a strong and growing telecoms sector,” he said.
NAN reports that MTN and the NCC reached a negotiated settlement in relation to the fine imposed on MTN in 2015 as a result of a dispute over the disconnection of unregistered SIM cards in its subscriber base.
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Why SIM card replacement process is stringent
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made the process of replacing lost, stolen or damaged Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards more stringent in order to protect telecommunications consumers.
NCC Director, Zonal Operations, Mrs Amina Shehu, said this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos.
She said before replacing a SIM card consumers are required to identify themselves properly by through court affidavit, national identification card (or other valid IDs), SIM pack, among other requirements.
She said the process was reviewed and made more stringent, to ensure that telecom subscribers are well protected from being victims of SIM swap fraud.
Shehu said the commission has found that, at times, a subscriber might be having issues with his or her phone number, thinking that it is a network issue.
She added that by the time the subscriber discovered what is happening, money would have been fraudulently taken out of his or her bank account.
According to her, SIM swap or replacement has a lot of issues attached to it because, often times, a lot of people who are not the owners of some numbers do SIM swap at various customer centres of the service providers.
”There have been cases of fraudulent activities done on people’s bank accounts, as a result of SIM swap and the victims often complain to the commission, expecting that NCC will compensate them.
”To stop this SIM swap fraud, the commission in 2017 developed guidelines on SIM replacement, which sets water-tight rules for telecoms consumers to replace their SIM card when there is a need for it,” she said.
She said that consumers are frowning at being asked to bring court affidavit, national identification card (or other valid IDs), SIM pack, among other requirements.
Shehu said that the regulatory body has noted that there is likelihood by subscribers to think that network providers are putting them through stress to have their SIM replaced.
”But what telecoms consumers should know is that they must appreciate the fact that information being required from them is to establish that anybody coming for SIM swap proves that the number requested to be swapped belongs to him/her.
”Consumers should immediately report to their respective banks to block their accounts, once they lose SIMs linked with their bank accounts,” she said.
The director said the commission has other initiatives aimed at protecting the consumers, which include the activation of the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 Short Code to curb unsolicited text messages.
She said with NCC’s toll-free line 622, consumers can report complains pertaining to unresolved issues with service providers to the commission.
Shehu said with 622, subscribers can report quality of service, billing issues, mobile number portability (MNP) as well as issues revolving around data descriptions and renewals.
She urged telecommunications consumers to be ambassadors of the commission by assisting to pass the information to people to be aware of such consumer-centric initiatives.
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NCC holds valedictory service for its Director, Public Affairs Dept. Nwokike, 11 other retirees
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Friday held a valedictory service to honor some of its retirees who have served the organization meritoriously.
The event which was well attended by top management staff of NCC, families and associates of the retirees took place at River Plate Park in Wuse II, Abuja.
Among the list of NCC retirees who were honored at the occasion include, the outgoing Director, Public Affairs Dept. Mr. Nnamdi Nwokike; Director, Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis, Abubakar Yakutia; Head, Legislative and Government Relations, Bashir Idris; Director, Femi Atoyebi; Head, Process Administration in Corporate Planning, Strategy and Risk Management Dept. Mr. Inatimi Spiff and Deputy Director, Performance Management, Augustine Odo.
Others in the list are, Director, Olawale Kehinde (Rtd) ; Deputy Director, Somieari Jumbo; Director, Okoh Ashe; Deputy Director, Legal and Regulatory Dept. Chinelo Ofomata; Engr. Tanimu Bawa and Deputy Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Karolyn Danbatta.
Top management staff who graced the event are, Chairman NCC Board of Commissioners, Sen. Olabiyi Durojaiye; Chief Executive Officer, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta and Executive Comm. (Stakeholder Management) of NCC, Sunday Dare.
While delivering her address, Chairperson of the the organizing Committee praised the sterling contributions of the retirees in uplifting NCC.
Her words “Your service has been very inspirational to most of us, you have left behind a laudable achievement.
She noted that the entire staff of NCC is indeed proud of the retirees for their quality mentorship to the majority of staffers.
“Every ending is always a new beginning, I believe their are far better things ahead of you than you have left behind. I congratulate and wish you well in your endeavor and wherever you find yourselves.”
