The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission (EVC), Professor Garba Danbatta, represented by the Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, gave the assurance while receiving a delegation of Food Basket Foundation International (FBFI), led by its Chief Executive Officer, Funmi Akinyele, at Headquarters of the NCC in Abuja today, March 27.
He stressed that the Commission is committed to strengthening its regulation of the telecommunication sector, particularly providing the solid infrastructure and general industry regulations.
Muoka said that the Commission is not responsible for the content of the social media as there are other government agencies that are responsible for that.
He said however, that the Commission has engaged in several aspects of protection of the users of the Internet, such as initiatives towards Child Online Protection, COP, deployment of the Computer Security Incident Response Team, NCC-CSIRT, set up to monitor cyber-attacks in the Nigerian cyberspace, in addition to the activities of the Commission’s department of New Media and Information Security set up to address issued of cybersecurity.
“We have tried not to be a closed organization. We give lots of premiums to consultations and collaborations, especially in the areas that will ensure that the consumers and stakeholders understand what is going on and to make input that enriches the quality of regulations, as well as being able to access information they may require to safeguard themselves and the society,” he noted.
Muoka also invited the group to join the NCC in carrying out enlightenment campaigns to educate telecom consumers on their roles and responsibilities in order to use the Internet and telecommunication platform safely to counter misuse and abuse.
This was even as Akinyele commended the Commission’s regulatory excellence, even as she highlighted the NCC’s efforts in ensuring that there are regulations, frameworks and guidelines to guard the telecoms sector and online civic space
She however, expressed concerns about the state of the social media with uncontrolled content.
She said that the visit to the regulator was to explore areas of collaboration in its programme to protect the digital civic space by combating misinformation and disinformation while mitigating risks to the digital civic space to ensure electoral integrity before, during and after the 2023 General Elections.
This initiative, she explained, comes under one of FBFI’s projects, dubbed, Safeguarding Digital Civic Space for Electoral Integrity (SDSEI).
