*The Nigerian Communications Commission, at the commemoration of their year’s World Consumer Rights Day, in Abuja, has urged service providers to consider unintended side-effects of their critical social infrastructure on the environment and service quality to telecoms consumers

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advocated that telecoms service providers and consumers carefully examine the unintended side-effects of their critical social infrastructure on the environment.

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绿帽献妻 reports Barr. Adeleke Adewolu, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM) at NCC, stated this in his opening remarks at the commemoration of this year’s World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in Abuja, FCT.

The theme of WCRD 2023 is 鈥淓mpowering Consumers through Clean Energy Transition”.

The ECSM of the telecoms regulatory Commission noted the World Consumer Rights Day is undoubtedly, one of the most important dates in the NCC鈥檚 annual calendar of events.

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Adewolu said: “It is a day we set aside to celebrate our most important stakeholder group, that is, our Consumers.

“This year, we are pivoting our celebrations around a theme which allows us to design more environmentally sustainable service models so that we can truly serve our consumer better.”

He also stated: “I am indeed, pleased to welcome you all to this opening session.”

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According to him, the 2023 WCRD theme allows consumers and other stakeholders in the digital ecosystem to carefully examine the unintended side-effects of their critical social infrastructure on the environment.

“The Nigerian telecoms industry today boasts of over 226 million voice customers and over 156million Internet customers as of 31 January, 2023,” Adewolu said.

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The ECSM also explained these consumers leverage communications infrastructure for social interaction, health service, access to education, banking, etc.

He further observed that as consumer volumes and service diversity continue to grow, network operators have to roll-out more infrastructure for coverage in new, mostly rural areas, and for network expansion in already saturated urban markets.

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Emerging technologies like 5th Generation (5G) mobile services will also require more infrastructure, said Adewolu.

He stated these infrastructure components are mostly powered by fossil fuels to ensure 100 percent availability.

In regard to the environmental impacts of these activities, he noted that it is important that the stakeholders asked themselves some pertinent questions, including:

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“Are there more environmentally conscious means by which we can power network infrastructure and reduce our carbon footprint?

“Telecoms infrastructure have helped to reduce other environment-impacting activities such as travel 鈥� can we quantify these benefits and do they offset the negative impacts?

“Have we convinced everyone about the safety of electromagnetic emissions?”

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Others are: “Can we find a balance between environmentally-friendly network operations and cheaper services; or do we have to choose one over the other?

“How can we improve the quality of the environment through our network services and how can we grow public consciousness about responsible services using telecoms infrastructure?”

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Adewolu said as responsible stakeholders in the telecoms ecosystem in Nigeria, “we must find answers to these and other nagging questions and I am pleased that the organisers of WCRD 2023 have carefully designed a programme of events that will help us do just that.”

The ECSM of NCC, therefore, urged the participants in the commemorative event to give their full and undivided attention to the speeches, presentations and discussions.

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“I also encourage you to participate fully in the activities lined up for this year鈥檚 celebration.

“I thank you all for your attention and wish us all a successful outing. Happy World Consumer Rights Day 2023!” Adewolu stated.

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